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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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[woman 1] When I think of Barbie,
I see a little white doll

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with blue eyes
and blonde hair and pink lips,

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and just in… in all pink.

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That's what I think.

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[woman 2] I just found Barbie
to be unrealistic.

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[chuckling] Like, I remember thinking,

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"Okay, so a Barbie
is what I am supposed to grow into being."

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Maybe when I was a grown-up,
I would look like that,

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but I knew my mom was a grown-up
and didn't look like that,

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so I was like, "Trash."

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Barbie was white. You know, Ken was white.
Like, that was what you saw.

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So I guess when I saw a Black Barbie,
I was like, "They make Black Barbies?"

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[woman 3] Well, in my head,

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Black Barbie came to be
because somebody Black was at Mattel,

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and they were like, "Wait a minute."

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Rose their hand in a meeting. "Excuse me?
Does anybody see the holes here?"

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"This is… This is not right.
There's nobody that looks like me."

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And all the white people
at Mattel were like,

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"Oh, we never thought about that.
I guess… I guess that is true."

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[inhales sharply] "But who's gonna
buy that? Mmm, I don't know."

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And the Black person was like, "Mmm,
uh, I would, and everybody I know will."

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The people at Mattel were like,

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"Hmm, but we need a little bit more
than that. I don't know."

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"We don't wanna put all this money out
for something that isn't gonna sell."

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And it took said Black person

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to keep telling them
of the value that it had.

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And they finally pull the trigger.

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And in my head, that's how it came to be.

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[woman 4] You know what?

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[laughs]

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[woman 4] Documentary done.

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[laughs]

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["Barbie Girl" by Aqua plays]

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[woman 5] OG Black Barbie is so fly.

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That 'fro is perfection.

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[woman 6] I said,
"Wow, there's a Black Barbie."

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"I want one of those."

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[woman 7] If it doesn't have
that brand name Barbie on it,

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it's just not the same.

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[woman 3] Crowning this doll as Barbie

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was telling the world
Black is beautiful too.

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[woman 8] She represented success.
She represented beauty.

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I can see possibility in her for myself.

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[woman 9] She's Black.
She's beautiful. She's dynamite.

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♪ I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world ♪

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♪ Life in plastic, it's fantastic ♪

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♪ You can brush my hair
Undress me everywhere ♪

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♪ Imagination, life is your creation ♪

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[music stops]

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[Lagueria] So in 2011, I move to LA

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to expand upon my dreams
of becoming a filmmaker.

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I stayed with my aunt
and slept in a room surrounded by dolls.

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…we're gonna have on eBay.

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[Lagueria] I hate dolls.

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Okay. Yeah.

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[Lagueria] But my aunt loves them,
so I decided to find out why.

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My name is Beulah Mae Mitchell
from Fort Worth, Texas.

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I was born in 1938. May 15th, 1938.

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[Lagueria] And the Civil Rights Movement
came about in the '60s.

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So you see how long I lived in that.

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Things, uh, were so different.

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As a little girl, I… I went to work
in a white person's home,

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cooking, at the age of 13.

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I went, uh, from my first grade
to ninth grade in a Black school.

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At that time, you couldn't vote.
They… they had, uh…

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It was something like
"pay to vote." [chuckles]

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When… when I came up,
you had to pay to vote.

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[Lagueria] And so, do you think,
because you grew up, like, in those times,

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for some reason,
when you see dolls that are Black dolls--

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Oh, I was so fascinated
to see Black dolls.

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My mother loved dolls, and I love dolls

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because I just love fashion
and pretty dolls, pretty people.

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They were just gorgeous.

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I made my own doll with a… a jam jar

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and put the rope in it
and comb hair and curl it and things

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when I was a child.

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And it was fun for us
to have that kind of doll.

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We used… Even though we had a real doll,
we still liked our jar dolls

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with the hair that we could comb
and… and… and fix.

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[both laugh]

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I can't remember having a Black…
Black doll when I was a little girl.

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[Lagueria] Not even a Black baby doll?

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Not even a Black baby doll.

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I'm almost sure all my dolls…
For Christmas, we got white dolls.

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When you were seven or eight,
did you really, really want a Black doll?

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Did it ever--

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I didn't… It didn't occur to me.
It was just a doll.

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So when people see me now,

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and I have more Black dolls
than I have white dolls,

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now it's no big thing to people
because they expect it. [chuckles]

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[upbeat music plays]

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[Lagueria] Listening to my aunt talk about
growing up playing with white dolls,

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I was like,
"Okay, I played with white dolls too."

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Reluctantly, of course.

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But playing with a Black doll
never occurred to her.

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Hmm. I wonder if it occurred to me
as little Lagueria.

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What a perplexing thing,

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to look in the social mirror
and not see yourself.

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It's funny.

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My aunt and I are generations apart,

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yet we share a similar experience.

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My name is Maxine Waters.

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I'm a member of Congress,
and I've collected Black dolls.

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I have 12 siblings.

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We were poor, and so, uh,
we were given toys at Christmastime.

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And we had to go
to some place that was designated

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for poor people to come
and get their toys.

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And so, for my sisters, I would always
make sure that they got a doll,

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and I would say, "Oh, I don't need one."

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[Lagueria] Were they Black dolls?

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There were no Black dolls.

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They were all white dolls.

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We didn't know a lot
or think a lot, uh, about it at that time.

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But as you get
a better knowledge and understanding

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about yourself and about people of color,

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I began to understand
how important it was to have a Black doll

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and to have someone who looked like me.

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Collecting Black dolls, I think,
became very important to us.

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To say, uh, that we liked them,
we appreciated them,

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we could afford them,
and we were gonna have them.

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My mom definitely loves dolls.

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She has her own doll collection
of all kinds of dolls.

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I always think it's because there were
no Black dolls when my mother was a child.

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So she's been fascinated with them.

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If you've gone your whole life and never
seen anything made in your own image,

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it's gotta be a powerful moment for you
as a woman.

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In the Americas, there were many places
that had banned Black dolls.

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And so people were making dolls
that look like pillows or quilts.

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Or that were made with calico fabric
to represent Black dolls.

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In the Caribbean, people had something
called Topsy-Turvy dolls,

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where on one side, you had a doll
with a long skirt that was a white doll,

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and then you could flip it over
and pull the skirt down,

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and you had a Black doll.

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[Beulah] I do remember seeing Black dolls,
but they were like Aunt Jemima dolls.

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[Lagueria] Mm-hmm.

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-[Beulah] You know what I'm saying?
-[Lagueria] I do.

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They didn't have
no pretty dolls. [chuckles]

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We know, at least, that they existed
if for no other reason

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than Kenneth and Mamie Clark
did an experiment,

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uh, with, uh, Black children,
asking their doll preference,

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and had Black dolls to use
in that experiment.

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[endearing music playing]

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[man] We put them on a table.

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Two white and two brown dolls,

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exactly the same
in every respect except color.

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We put no clothes on them except a diaper.

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And we asked the children
a number of very simple questions.

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"Show me the white doll."

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"Show me the colored doll."

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We then asked them preference questions.

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Such as, "Show me the doll
you'd like to play with."

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"Show me or give me the doll
that's a nice doll."

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"Show me the doll that's a bad doll."

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And we found that the majority
of Black children at that time

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did, in fact, ascribe
the positive characteristics

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to the white doll

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and the negative characteristics
to the brown doll.

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I then asked the question,
"Now show me the doll that's like you."

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Some of those children looked at me
as if I were the devil himself

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for putting them in that predicament.

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It was the beginning
of psychologists' understanding

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of, uh, the terrible damage
that's done to human beings

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by racial rejection.

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And that sent a shock wave,
I think, through the Black community.

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Uh, understanding very thoroughly,

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uh, that little Black girls
did not have self-esteem,

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did not think of themselves as beautiful,
and would prefer to have a white doll.

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[Patricia] And the outcome of that test,

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many of the judges on the Supreme Court

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in the Brown v. Board of Education
decision

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said it was the piece of evidence
that pushed them over.

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Not the statistics,

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not the unequal supplies
going to the schools,

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not the slipshod construction
of the schools.

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None of that was as convincing
as what they got from the Clark test.

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So, as a result of that,

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we got the Supreme Court decision

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in Brown v. Board of Education

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that desegregates the school.

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[upbeat music plays]

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[Beulah] In 1953,

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I moved to Los Angeles with my mom.

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In '55, my sister got married in July.

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Her sister-in-law worked for Mattel,

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and she said,
"Do you all wanna work during the summer?"

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Because they were hiring kids in college.

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You really were supposed to have been 18,
but I put my age up and got the job.

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00:11:14,215 --> 00:11:15,508
[upbeat music continues]

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00:11:20,096 --> 00:11:21,138
This is me.

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Uh, spinning the jack-in-the-box.

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It says, "Eleanor Ruiz also secures
the top and bottom to the Jack body,

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00:11:32,608 --> 00:11:36,487
and Beulah Mitchell, at machine,
gives the Jack a spin."

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I was called a "spinner,"
so I got paid a little more

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00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:41,450
for doing this particular job.

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[upbeat music continues]

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This is me, and this is my sister.

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00:11:53,087 --> 00:11:55,047
We started the same day.

200
00:11:55,589 --> 00:11:59,719
This is Ruth Handler and Elliot Handler.

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00:11:59,802 --> 00:12:02,304
We worked for the original owners,
and it was like…

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00:12:02,388 --> 00:12:04,932
They called themselves a mom-and-pop shop.

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00:12:05,015 --> 00:12:08,394
We just loved, uh, Ruth
'cause she was such a strong woman.

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00:12:09,395 --> 00:12:10,980
Ruth Handler, she went overseas

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00:12:11,063 --> 00:12:14,233
and came back and wanted to make
this doll with breasts.

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00:12:14,316 --> 00:12:16,068
We was just shocked.

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00:12:16,152 --> 00:12:20,823
And I was on the first line
because I had became a… a lead girl.

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♪ Barbie, you're beautiful ♪

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00:12:28,956 --> 00:12:32,501
♪ You make me feel ♪

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00:12:32,585 --> 00:12:36,130
♪ My Barbie doll is really real ♪

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[Beulah] She named those dolls
Barbie and Ken after her two children.

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00:12:40,384 --> 00:12:45,556
I remember them when they were small.
They're a little younger than I am.

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00:12:45,639 --> 00:12:49,477
This book was written by Ruth Handler.

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00:12:50,060 --> 00:12:51,145
And in this book,

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00:12:52,354 --> 00:12:54,482
uh, she has my name.

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00:12:55,232 --> 00:12:59,487
[Lagueria] So how did you strike up
this friendship with your boss?

217
00:13:00,070 --> 00:13:04,658
Oh, because she was always personable.

218
00:13:04,742 --> 00:13:08,829
I worked on the lines,
and she would come through and watch us.

219
00:13:09,497 --> 00:13:13,501
And we would be working so fast,
and she would say,

220
00:13:13,584 --> 00:13:16,879
"Do you have any suggestions
of what I should do?"

221
00:13:16,962 --> 00:13:18,506
She would ask us questions.

222
00:13:18,589 --> 00:13:22,760
"Do you think that this doll
would be a good seller?"

223
00:13:22,843 --> 00:13:26,430
"What else do you think we should do
to make this doll work?"

224
00:13:26,514 --> 00:13:30,518
She thought as much we thought
as she did the people in the office

225
00:13:30,601 --> 00:13:32,436
because we were making the toys.

226
00:13:33,062 --> 00:13:37,608
In '60 or '61, they're saying,
"Well, we want a Black Barbie."

227
00:13:37,691 --> 00:13:39,777
She said, "Well, good. We'll see."

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00:13:40,444 --> 00:13:43,155
Asking Ruth Handler

229
00:13:43,239 --> 00:13:47,701
to consider incorporating
a Black Barbie into the product line,

230
00:13:47,785 --> 00:13:49,954
that was a little act of revolution.

231
00:13:50,871 --> 00:13:54,875
We often take for granted
the generations before us,

232
00:13:54,959 --> 00:13:59,713
and the steps that they took
are often remarkable.

233
00:14:02,967 --> 00:14:05,511
In the '60s, Mattel created

234
00:14:05,594 --> 00:14:08,764
friends for Barbie, uh, that were Black.

235
00:14:08,848 --> 00:14:11,851
Francie, the original doll,
came out in 1966.

236
00:14:11,934 --> 00:14:14,228
She was marketed as Barbie's cousin.

237
00:14:14,311 --> 00:14:18,858
In 1967, Mattel offered
a Black version of Francie.

238
00:14:18,941 --> 00:14:21,193
Christie came out in 1968.

239
00:14:21,277 --> 00:14:23,779
[woman 10] I was most proud
of my Christie doll.

240
00:14:23,863 --> 00:14:25,322
They have her labeled

241
00:14:25,406 --> 00:14:28,826
as Barbie's babysitter and best friend.

242
00:14:28,909 --> 00:14:30,119
I'm like, "She can't be both."

243
00:14:30,202 --> 00:14:32,580
She can be the best friend,
but she ain't nobody's babysitter.

244
00:14:33,163 --> 00:14:35,457
[woman 11] The features were not of us.

245
00:14:35,541 --> 00:14:39,420
The cheekbones, the nose,
the lips, the eyes, everything.

246
00:14:39,503 --> 00:14:43,424
So it was as if, "Okay,
we can just make the doll a darker skin,

247
00:14:43,507 --> 00:14:44,800
and that should suffice."

248
00:14:44,884 --> 00:14:47,094
[Virginia] And then Julia came along.

249
00:14:48,637 --> 00:14:53,392
Julia was fashioned after
the first African American woman

250
00:14:53,475 --> 00:14:56,687
who was the lead in a television show,

251
00:14:56,770 --> 00:14:58,480
and it was Diahann Carroll.

252
00:14:59,356 --> 00:15:00,900
Clinic, Mrs. Baker speaking.

253
00:15:00,983 --> 00:15:02,776
To me, Diahann Carroll as Julia

254
00:15:02,860 --> 00:15:05,946
was the first Black woman
to lead a television series.

255
00:15:06,030 --> 00:15:07,990
And so it had that significance for me.

256
00:15:08,073 --> 00:15:11,493
I was already starting to work
in television, and I just loved her.

257
00:15:11,577 --> 00:15:13,746
I thought Julia Baker was, like, the best.

258
00:15:13,829 --> 00:15:15,539
I had Christie dolls.

259
00:15:15,623 --> 00:15:16,874
I had the Cara dolls.

260
00:15:16,957 --> 00:15:18,584
I had, like, three Cara dolls.

261
00:15:18,667 --> 00:15:21,837
They all looked exactly the same,
but they were doing very different things.

262
00:15:21,921 --> 00:15:26,425
I don't think I ever thought
of Cara and Christie as not Barbie.

263
00:15:26,508 --> 00:15:28,719
You know, they were
what Barbie meant to me.

264
00:15:28,802 --> 00:15:32,181
But to find out later
that those dolls were not Barbie,

265
00:15:32,264 --> 00:15:34,600
and very specifically
considered not Barbie,

266
00:15:34,683 --> 00:15:35,643
was interesting to me.

267
00:15:37,728 --> 00:15:39,772
[funky music plays]

268
00:15:39,855 --> 00:15:41,732
[sirens wail]

269
00:15:45,986 --> 00:15:50,449
[woman 12] Lou Smith and Robert Hall,
who had witnessed the Watts Rebellion,

270
00:15:50,532 --> 00:15:54,036
wanted to do something
to address the poverty and unemployment

271
00:15:54,119 --> 00:15:58,040
that was taking place
in South LA in the Watts area.

272
00:15:58,123 --> 00:16:01,418
They devised this organization
called Operation Bootstrap

273
00:16:01,502 --> 00:16:03,337
to provide job training.

274
00:16:03,420 --> 00:16:04,630
[funky music continues]

275
00:16:04,713 --> 00:16:06,006
[man] Opening Blacks up

276
00:16:06,090 --> 00:16:09,343
to the technological world
that they haven't been involved in.

277
00:16:09,426 --> 00:16:10,970
Yes, that's our job.

278
00:16:11,470 --> 00:16:14,139
Showing cats that there's better ways
to use their talent

279
00:16:14,223 --> 00:16:15,683
than hustling on the corner.

280
00:16:15,766 --> 00:16:17,059
Yes, that's our job.

281
00:16:17,142 --> 00:16:19,311
And so, through Operation Bootstrap,

282
00:16:19,395 --> 00:16:21,438
there was a number of businesses
that formed.

283
00:16:21,522 --> 00:16:24,233
And one of the most, uh, successful
of those efforts

284
00:16:24,316 --> 00:16:26,193
was the Shindana Toy Company.

285
00:16:28,696 --> 00:16:34,034
My father thought Black kids
needed a positive self-image,

286
00:16:34,535 --> 00:16:39,415
and he decided to make Black dolls
that look like Black people.

287
00:16:39,498 --> 00:16:43,335
And he talked the owners of Mattel,
Elliot and Ruth Handler,

288
00:16:43,919 --> 00:16:47,256
out of $200,000 to start the toy company.

289
00:16:47,756 --> 00:16:51,719
Lou Smith was, uh, ahead of his time,
and he was an activist.

290
00:16:51,802 --> 00:16:56,348
And when they produced the toys,
that was an accomplishment.

291
00:16:56,432 --> 00:16:59,018
When they made the deal with Mattel,

292
00:16:59,101 --> 00:17:01,687
uh, that was considered
a great achievement.

293
00:17:01,770 --> 00:17:03,939
They gave them everything to work with.

294
00:17:04,023 --> 00:17:06,275
They sent people
from our company over there

295
00:17:06,358 --> 00:17:09,486
to show them how to make Black dolls.

296
00:17:09,570 --> 00:17:12,698
[Yolanda] Folks at Mattel introduced them

297
00:17:12,781 --> 00:17:16,910
to some of the manufacturing processes
that they utilized.

298
00:17:16,994 --> 00:17:21,457
There was an investment in really wanting
the Shindana toy factory to succeed.

299
00:17:21,540 --> 00:17:23,625
[funky music continues]

300
00:17:27,504 --> 00:17:29,757
So this is Baby Nancy,

301
00:17:31,050 --> 00:17:34,386
and she was born in 1968.

302
00:17:37,556 --> 00:17:40,726
So you could buy Baby Nancy
with the natural

303
00:17:40,809 --> 00:17:43,228
if you wanted the doll with the natural.

304
00:17:43,312 --> 00:17:45,939
And then she had short, curly hair.

305
00:17:46,023 --> 00:17:47,191
[Lagueria chuckles]

306
00:17:47,274 --> 00:17:49,651
And this is her original outfit.

307
00:17:50,194 --> 00:17:51,403
They were very much

308
00:17:51,487 --> 00:17:54,656
about recognizing features

309
00:17:54,740 --> 00:17:56,408
that were much more accurate

310
00:17:56,492 --> 00:17:59,328
than what we were originally seeing
with Mattel dolls.

311
00:17:59,411 --> 00:18:03,415
[Yolanda] She was really stamped
with a level of authenticity.

312
00:18:03,499 --> 00:18:05,709
She's also the only Black doll

313
00:18:05,793 --> 00:18:08,837
that's inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame.

314
00:18:10,255 --> 00:18:12,382
[Billie] So this is Disco Wanda.

315
00:18:12,466 --> 00:18:15,052
Disco Wanda was made in the '70s.

316
00:18:15,135 --> 00:18:18,347
[Yolanda] Shindana produced
their version of a fashion doll.

317
00:18:18,430 --> 00:18:21,934
Not only would kids receive toys,
they would also receive a little booklet.

318
00:18:22,017 --> 00:18:23,602
In the booklet,

319
00:18:23,685 --> 00:18:27,439
you have Nurse Wanda, Ballerina Wanda.

320
00:18:27,523 --> 00:18:30,567
You have the Airline Attendant Wanda.

321
00:18:30,651 --> 00:18:32,361
They were all based on real people.

322
00:18:32,444 --> 00:18:33,529
[Lagueria] Real Black women?

323
00:18:33,612 --> 00:18:35,239
On real Black women.

324
00:18:35,322 --> 00:18:40,494
[Yolanda] Those dolls were modeled
after local women and their careers.

325
00:18:40,577 --> 00:18:42,830
And they wanted to tap into careers

326
00:18:42,913 --> 00:18:46,834
that made sense
for young Black girls in particular.

327
00:18:47,501 --> 00:18:51,088
[Amitis] The Shindana Toy Company
made dolls and toys accessible

328
00:18:51,171 --> 00:18:52,714
to all children,

329
00:18:52,798 --> 00:18:56,426
and they were all adorable
and wonderful to play with.

330
00:18:56,969 --> 00:19:02,891
I think it was due to the people
that worked at Shindana

331
00:19:02,975 --> 00:19:04,643
and who ran the company.

332
00:19:04,726 --> 00:19:10,482
[Lou Smith] The entire labor force
came from South Central LA.

333
00:19:10,566 --> 00:19:15,821
99% of the workers from Shindana
could almost walk to work.

334
00:19:16,613 --> 00:19:19,032
Although parents are buying these dolls,

335
00:19:19,116 --> 00:19:21,660
and they may not be there
in the factory to see that,

336
00:19:21,743 --> 00:19:22,953
they have a sense of that.

337
00:19:24,037 --> 00:19:27,040
Ultimately, the Shindana Toy Company
would become

338
00:19:27,124 --> 00:19:31,712
the largest producer of Black toys
during the '70s and early '80s.

339
00:19:31,795 --> 00:19:34,673
It became this amazing
proof of concept, basically,

340
00:19:34,756 --> 00:19:37,926
that, you know,
there is a market, it is viable,

341
00:19:38,010 --> 00:19:40,971
and there is a way to produce product

342
00:19:41,054 --> 00:19:44,224
that that market really wants
and really appreciates.

343
00:19:44,308 --> 00:19:47,186
By the time the '80s rolled around,

344
00:19:47,269 --> 00:19:52,691
bigger corporations
started to tap into their model.

345
00:19:52,774 --> 00:19:56,653
And eventually, by 1983, it was…
It closed down.

346
00:19:57,738 --> 00:19:59,990
[Beulah] I worked 14 years in the factory,

347
00:20:00,073 --> 00:20:01,700
and in '69,

348
00:20:01,783 --> 00:20:03,702
I was able to go into the office.

349
00:20:04,453 --> 00:20:06,914
I always kinda told myself,

350
00:20:06,997 --> 00:20:10,667
"Well, they needed
somebody that… of color."

351
00:20:10,751 --> 00:20:13,128
Because they had one Black guy

352
00:20:13,212 --> 00:20:16,423
that was a programmer
up on the sixth floor,

353
00:20:16,506 --> 00:20:19,092
and I was the second person being Black.

354
00:20:19,968 --> 00:20:23,805
I always loved people,
and everybody felt comfortable with me.

355
00:20:23,889 --> 00:20:26,016
I'm just that type of person. [laughs]

356
00:20:28,852 --> 00:20:32,648
They hired a Black girl, Kitty Black.

357
00:20:33,232 --> 00:20:34,900
They got her from Trade-Tech.

358
00:20:34,983 --> 00:20:38,320
She came in as a designer for the clothes.

359
00:20:38,403 --> 00:20:41,198
Our first Black designer.

360
00:20:41,865 --> 00:20:44,576
I am Kitty Black Perkins.

361
00:20:45,911 --> 00:20:50,749
I designed the first Black Barbie doll
for Mattel toys.

362
00:20:50,832 --> 00:20:52,960
I answered a blind ad.

363
00:20:53,043 --> 00:20:55,254
I went for the interview,

364
00:20:55,337 --> 00:20:58,423
and I left there thinking,

365
00:20:58,507 --> 00:21:04,304
"I have to have this job.
I can't do anything else."

366
00:21:04,388 --> 00:21:08,308
They asked me to bring one design.

367
00:21:08,392 --> 00:21:10,602
Take a doll, dress it,

368
00:21:10,686 --> 00:21:12,854
bring the flat patterns back,

369
00:21:12,938 --> 00:21:15,983
as well as the sewn garment.

370
00:21:16,066 --> 00:21:20,320
I came back with six designs

371
00:21:20,404 --> 00:21:21,613
instead of one.

372
00:21:23,031 --> 00:21:24,908
[Patricia] What Beulah Mae did,

373
00:21:24,992 --> 00:21:28,954
she laid the groundwork
for Kitty to come in as a professional.

374
00:21:29,454 --> 00:21:33,375
They're… acclimated to the presence

375
00:21:33,458 --> 00:21:38,213
of a strong, competent Black woman
in the workplace.

376
00:21:38,297 --> 00:21:41,049
That enables the next step,

377
00:21:41,133 --> 00:21:44,219
which is a strong, competent Black woman
as a designer.

378
00:21:44,303 --> 00:21:48,932
Whether or not Kitty
would have been welcomed

379
00:21:49,016 --> 00:21:50,892
had Beulah not been there,

380
00:21:51,685 --> 00:21:53,437
I'm not sure you can say.

381
00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:59,151
I met Beulah probably the second day
after I was hired at Mattel.

382
00:21:59,651 --> 00:22:04,406
We were proud of her
because she… she drove a sports car,

383
00:22:04,489 --> 00:22:07,075
and she matched our Black Barbie. [laughs]

384
00:22:07,159 --> 00:22:09,411
We thought she was a Black Barbie.

385
00:22:09,494 --> 00:22:11,747
A… a real Black Barbie.

386
00:22:11,830 --> 00:22:14,624
-How you doing?
-Kitty!

387
00:22:14,708 --> 00:22:15,584
Oh.

388
00:22:16,585 --> 00:22:19,087
You look great. How are you?

389
00:22:19,171 --> 00:22:21,256
[Beulah] Blessed
and highly-favored to be here.

390
00:22:21,340 --> 00:22:22,215
Okay, girl.

391
00:22:22,299 --> 00:22:25,218
-I belong to the CRS club.
-What is that?

392
00:22:25,302 --> 00:22:26,720
Can't remember shit.

393
00:22:26,803 --> 00:22:28,722
[Kitty laughs]

394
00:22:29,264 --> 00:22:31,933
I'm a member too. [laughs]

395
00:22:32,017 --> 00:22:35,979
-Well, I was at Mattel for 28 years.
-[Lagueria] Okay.

396
00:22:36,063 --> 00:22:39,316
But during that whole time, I knew Beulah.

397
00:22:39,399 --> 00:22:44,780
[Beulah] Straight out of Trade-Tech.
First Black designer for the Barbie.

398
00:22:44,863 --> 00:22:47,741
Put Black Barbie before the Barbies,

399
00:22:47,824 --> 00:22:49,785
and she did excellent.

400
00:22:49,868 --> 00:22:56,500
You know, those days
were so exciting for me.

401
00:22:56,583 --> 00:23:00,253
And everybody who was Black
in the company,

402
00:23:00,879 --> 00:23:04,925
uh, didn't matter what their position was,
and it was very few,

403
00:23:05,634 --> 00:23:07,427
was coming to find me.

404
00:23:07,511 --> 00:23:09,262
[laughs]

405
00:23:09,346 --> 00:23:12,432
Which I thought was so nice.

406
00:23:12,516 --> 00:23:14,059
My name is Shonda Rhimes.

407
00:23:14,142 --> 00:23:16,269
I'm a television producer, a writer,

408
00:23:16,353 --> 00:23:19,231
and I'm also the first woman
to create three television dramas

409
00:23:19,314 --> 00:23:21,483
that have achieved
the 100-episode milestone.

410
00:23:21,566 --> 00:23:24,653
Somebody has to be the first.
And I was never excited to be the first.

411
00:23:24,736 --> 00:23:25,737
It felt like a burden.

412
00:23:25,821 --> 00:23:30,409
I felt like if I didn't succeed,
would anybody else get a chance behind me?

413
00:23:30,492 --> 00:23:31,368
That felt important.

414
00:23:31,451 --> 00:23:34,162
Would they ever put a Black woman
in a lead on a television show again?

415
00:23:34,246 --> 00:23:35,622
Those things were very important.

416
00:23:35,705 --> 00:23:40,085
My name is Misty Copeland.
I am a professional ballerina.

417
00:23:40,168 --> 00:23:41,545
I'm the first Black woman

418
00:23:41,628 --> 00:23:44,714
to ever be promoted
to the position of principal ballerina

419
00:23:44,798 --> 00:23:48,218
in American Ballet Theatre's
now 80-year history.

420
00:23:48,301 --> 00:23:49,719
I met Susan Fales-Hill,

421
00:23:49,803 --> 00:23:51,263
who was on the board

422
00:23:51,346 --> 00:23:52,931
at American Ballet Theatre.

423
00:23:53,014 --> 00:23:55,267
Incredible Black woman
who became my mentor

424
00:23:55,350 --> 00:24:00,188
and started to really
just kind of open my eyes up to…

425
00:24:00,272 --> 00:24:04,317
It's about bringing Black women together
and supporting one another.

426
00:24:04,401 --> 00:24:06,528
My name is Ibtihaj Muhammad.

427
00:24:06,611 --> 00:24:10,073
I am an Olympic athlete.

428
00:24:10,157 --> 00:24:12,701
I'm a fencer, and I'm also a Barbie.

429
00:24:12,784 --> 00:24:16,496
Because I grew up
being the only African American,

430
00:24:16,580 --> 00:24:18,373
being the only kid who wore a hijab,

431
00:24:18,457 --> 00:24:21,418
sometimes, even, like,
in a sport like fencing

432
00:24:21,501 --> 00:24:25,046
and fencing a weapon like saber,
sometimes being the only girl,

433
00:24:25,130 --> 00:24:29,551
I really learned early on
that I had to show up for myself

434
00:24:29,634 --> 00:24:31,511
and not be fearful of being the only one.

435
00:24:31,595 --> 00:24:33,180
[Misty] It's a protest. [chuckles]

436
00:24:33,263 --> 00:24:36,433
It's a protest just being in a Black body
and being on that stage,

437
00:24:36,516 --> 00:24:39,519
a part of a history
that does not include you,

438
00:24:39,603 --> 00:24:40,937
that wasn't built for you.

439
00:24:41,021 --> 00:24:45,609
And so I felt like this pressure
fueled me to keep going

440
00:24:45,692 --> 00:24:51,114
because just stepping on that stage, uh,
could possibly change one person's life.

441
00:24:51,198 --> 00:24:54,409
By the time I became a soloist
and a principal,

442
00:24:54,493 --> 00:24:58,455
it was like this feeling of
"If I don't make it to this place,

443
00:24:58,538 --> 00:25:01,208
when will there ever be
another Black girl in the company

444
00:25:01,291 --> 00:25:02,584
given this opportunity?"

445
00:25:02,667 --> 00:25:07,672
And it became, like, you know, relentless.
I was like, "I have to do this."

446
00:25:08,465 --> 00:25:10,800
[Beulah] She was our first Black designer.

447
00:25:10,884 --> 00:25:16,515
I can remember,
uh, when Kitty called us together

448
00:25:16,598 --> 00:25:17,474
and she said,

449
00:25:18,058 --> 00:25:23,021
"Don't you think they should be able
to make a doll of Black features?"

450
00:25:23,563 --> 00:25:25,565
And that was on her mind.

451
00:25:25,649 --> 00:25:28,777
I do think that there is damage done

452
00:25:28,860 --> 00:25:32,030
when you force children of color
to play with white dolls.

453
00:25:33,490 --> 00:25:35,033
My name is Monica Bailey.

454
00:25:35,116 --> 00:25:38,203
I am a mother of three.

455
00:25:38,286 --> 00:25:43,833
I grew up in Inglewood, California,
and was mostly raised in Arizona.

456
00:25:43,917 --> 00:25:47,546
We were in a very small town,
so trying to even find spaces

457
00:25:48,255 --> 00:25:51,383
that were Black spaces was very difficult.

458
00:25:52,050 --> 00:25:54,386
Mostly, the dolls I played with
were white dolls.

459
00:25:54,469 --> 00:25:59,558
So I would literally get some hair grease
that my mother would put in my hair

460
00:25:59,641 --> 00:26:03,061
and put it in there
from the scalp to the root,

461
00:26:03,144 --> 00:26:06,231
comb it, try to make it kinky, nappy,

462
00:26:06,314 --> 00:26:07,983
to make it look like me a little bit.

463
00:26:08,066 --> 00:26:09,776
Even though I know it wasn't,

464
00:26:09,859 --> 00:26:13,780
it made me feel like it…
it was connecting me in some kind of way.

465
00:26:13,863 --> 00:26:18,868
The eyes that were blue,
I would get a colored crayon or a marker

466
00:26:18,952 --> 00:26:21,580
and literally color the eyes brown.

467
00:26:21,663 --> 00:26:23,456
The Barbies I had,
they were white Barbies,

468
00:26:23,540 --> 00:26:26,042
and I felt like I needed
to look like them.

469
00:26:26,126 --> 00:26:27,377
But having that,

470
00:26:28,086 --> 00:26:32,257
um, to be a standard made me feel,

471
00:26:32,340 --> 00:26:35,051
myself and other Black girls,
feel inadequate.

472
00:26:35,135 --> 00:26:38,013
I was like, "I need to look like them.
I need to be them."

473
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,641
I remember that. I'm getting chills
thinking about that right now.

474
00:26:41,725 --> 00:26:42,976
It was very…

475
00:26:44,060 --> 00:26:45,228
[exhales slowly]

476
00:26:45,312 --> 00:26:46,521
Yeah.

477
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,025
Wow! I wasn't expecting that!

478
00:26:50,108 --> 00:26:50,984
[chuckles]

479
00:26:52,402 --> 00:26:53,361
Whoo.

480
00:26:54,821 --> 00:26:55,655
[sighs]

481
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,162
I just remember, um,

482
00:27:02,245 --> 00:27:06,082
not feeling like I was beautiful.

483
00:27:07,083 --> 00:27:08,752
[voice breaks] Because of my skin

484
00:27:10,211 --> 00:27:12,088
and my hair texture.

485
00:27:12,922 --> 00:27:17,010
And being around people
that did not look like me

486
00:27:17,093 --> 00:27:18,970
and didn't accept me.

487
00:27:20,013 --> 00:27:21,306
It was very trying.

488
00:27:23,183 --> 00:27:25,685
It was very trying. It was very hard.

489
00:27:25,769 --> 00:27:27,187
Your mind is…

490
00:27:27,270 --> 00:27:29,898
and everything that you, like, conceive

491
00:27:29,981 --> 00:27:32,275
to be true or to be not true,

492
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:34,069
you learn it as a child.

493
00:27:34,152 --> 00:27:37,947
And if these Barbies
are not representative

494
00:27:38,031 --> 00:27:40,659
of what our real reality looks like,

495
00:27:40,742 --> 00:27:42,994
then what are you really saying
to these kids?

496
00:27:43,078 --> 00:27:44,204
Like, "You don't exist."

497
00:27:44,287 --> 00:27:46,373
[Kitty] When I designed this doll,

498
00:27:47,374 --> 00:27:51,294
there was a need for the little Black girl

499
00:27:51,378 --> 00:27:54,881
to… to really have something
she could play with

500
00:27:54,964 --> 00:27:56,257
that looked like her.

501
00:27:57,676 --> 00:27:59,678
[gentle music plays]

502
00:28:03,890 --> 00:28:08,603
[Kitty] I wanted her just to reflect
the total look of a Black woman.

503
00:28:09,396 --> 00:28:14,943
With the regular Barbie,
um, the gown was always full,

504
00:28:15,026 --> 00:28:18,113
and the hair was always long.

505
00:28:18,196 --> 00:28:23,451
Well, I wanted her to be
the complete opposite of Barbie

506
00:28:24,077 --> 00:28:26,579
and the complete opposite of Christie

507
00:28:27,414 --> 00:28:32,877
in that I gave her bold colors,
bold jewelry, short hair,

508
00:28:33,420 --> 00:28:38,842
and a wrapped skirt
that could actually show skin.

509
00:28:38,925 --> 00:28:42,637
One of my favorite singers was Diana Ross.

510
00:28:42,721 --> 00:28:44,639
My fashion that I did

511
00:28:44,723 --> 00:28:48,852
kinda looked like something
that Diana Ross would wear.

512
00:28:49,519 --> 00:28:52,105
There was another hair designer

513
00:28:52,188 --> 00:28:53,982
named Mellie Phillips,

514
00:28:54,065 --> 00:28:55,358
and she was Black,

515
00:28:55,900 --> 00:28:58,194
so we came up with the short natural.

516
00:28:58,278 --> 00:29:01,030
I had a short natural myself at the time.

517
00:29:01,990 --> 00:29:07,412
We had a designer in sculpturing, Abol.
He was a man of color.

518
00:29:07,495 --> 00:29:10,206
We made her lips a little bit fuller.

519
00:29:10,290 --> 00:29:12,876
We made her nose a little bit wider.

520
00:29:12,959 --> 00:29:19,299
Her skin is a little bit lighter
than the darkest that we could have done.

521
00:29:19,382 --> 00:29:22,302
It was really a preference,

522
00:29:22,385 --> 00:29:25,221
and I preferred that color.

523
00:29:25,847 --> 00:29:29,642
I knew that Black Barbie was different.

524
00:29:29,726 --> 00:29:33,354
I never realized the magnitude.

525
00:29:33,438 --> 00:29:36,691
♪ I'm coming ♪

526
00:29:37,567 --> 00:29:38,526
♪ Out ♪

527
00:29:42,113 --> 00:29:43,531
♪ I'm coming out ♪

528
00:29:44,532 --> 00:29:49,162
♪ I want the world to know
Got to let it show ♪

529
00:29:50,872 --> 00:29:52,415
♪ I'm coming out… ♪

530
00:29:53,917 --> 00:29:59,380
[Yolanda] I can still feel
that sense of joy that I felt

531
00:29:59,464 --> 00:30:02,467
when I first was introduced
to Black Barbie.

532
00:30:02,550 --> 00:30:05,553
OG Black Barbie is so fly.

533
00:30:05,637 --> 00:30:08,473
That 'fro is perfection.

534
00:30:08,556 --> 00:30:11,017
She's about to hit, like, nightlife,

535
00:30:11,100 --> 00:30:12,936
has a really sick red dress.

536
00:30:13,019 --> 00:30:16,773
She has melanin, for real, in her skin.
[laughs] She's a little brown girl.

537
00:30:16,856 --> 00:30:20,151
[Lagueria] And so when did you first
fall in love with Black Barbie?

538
00:30:20,235 --> 00:30:23,238
When I first got one in my hand. [laughs]

539
00:30:23,321 --> 00:30:27,659
It says, "She's Black.
She's beautiful. She's dynamite."

540
00:30:28,201 --> 00:30:32,747
That was a pride, for sure,
to see your first Black Barbie.

541
00:30:33,331 --> 00:30:37,168
[Patricia] For me,
the step forward that was made

542
00:30:37,252 --> 00:30:40,880
when they called the Black doll Barbie,

543
00:30:41,464 --> 00:30:43,675
and not Francie or another name,

544
00:30:43,758 --> 00:30:46,302
was it allowed the Black girl

545
00:30:46,386 --> 00:30:48,137
to be the heroine of the story.

546
00:30:49,097 --> 00:30:54,394
In all of the imagined play with Barbie,
she's the center of attention.

547
00:30:54,894 --> 00:30:57,063
She's the belle of the ball.

548
00:30:57,146 --> 00:30:59,440
She's who you would want to be.

549
00:30:59,524 --> 00:31:01,776
And I don't think in anyone's life

550
00:31:01,860 --> 00:31:05,113
you should wanna be
the belle's best friend.

551
00:31:05,196 --> 00:31:09,075
It's just a sort of acknowledgment
of your existence,

552
00:31:09,158 --> 00:31:12,620
and that you're here,
and that you are valued.

553
00:31:12,704 --> 00:31:16,124
Crowning the… this… this doll as Barbie…

554
00:31:16,207 --> 00:31:18,960
The fight for "No, no, no, no,
we can't just call this

555
00:31:19,043 --> 00:31:21,838
a fashion doll or a…"

556
00:31:21,921 --> 00:31:23,715
"This is a Barbie too."

557
00:31:24,757 --> 00:31:27,427
…was telling the world
Black is beautiful too.

558
00:31:27,510 --> 00:31:33,016
So I'm so grateful
that we are included now

559
00:31:33,099 --> 00:31:34,392
in the legacy of that.

560
00:31:34,475 --> 00:31:38,187
There was, within my family,
within the adults,

561
00:31:38,271 --> 00:31:43,568
the kinds of discussions
about whether this was a step forward.

562
00:31:43,651 --> 00:31:46,487
Um, whether she looked like the doll

563
00:31:46,571 --> 00:31:49,949
that you would want
to give a member of the family.

564
00:31:50,033 --> 00:31:53,369
And I hate to be reductive,
but it's all about the hair.

565
00:31:53,453 --> 00:31:55,330
We did do a focus group.

566
00:31:55,413 --> 00:31:58,374
Some of the comments from the moms

567
00:31:58,458 --> 00:32:03,254
were about the hair being short
rather than long

568
00:32:03,338 --> 00:32:07,091
or the dress being slim rather than full.

569
00:32:07,175 --> 00:32:11,095
They didn't know
whether this was done intentional

570
00:32:11,596 --> 00:32:14,557
or whether it was just slighting.

571
00:32:14,641 --> 00:32:19,062
Mattel, at that time, invited a, um,

572
00:32:20,313 --> 00:32:21,898
child psychologist

573
00:32:23,066 --> 00:32:26,361
into Mattel, uh,
to discuss the whole doll.

574
00:32:26,444 --> 00:32:31,324
It was about the same feeling
that the moms had had.

575
00:32:32,825 --> 00:32:37,872
But when the child psychologist found out
that the designer was Black,

576
00:32:38,957 --> 00:32:40,375
it all went away.

577
00:32:40,959 --> 00:32:45,213
[Lagueria] It took 21 years
for one Black fashion doll

578
00:32:45,296 --> 00:32:47,465
to be worthy of the Barbie name.

579
00:32:47,548 --> 00:32:50,051
Dang, it's a doll, y'all.

580
00:32:50,551 --> 00:32:53,262
Keeping it real,
I didn't know Black Barbie existed

581
00:32:53,346 --> 00:32:55,139
until my aunt told me her story.

582
00:32:55,223 --> 00:32:58,351
And that got me thinking.
"Do people know about Black Barbie?"

583
00:32:59,227 --> 00:33:00,853
-Can I see her?
-[Lagueria] Yes.

584
00:33:01,354 --> 00:33:03,189
This is one of her outfits.

585
00:33:03,272 --> 00:33:06,109
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I actually have seen her

586
00:33:06,192 --> 00:33:09,278
'cause I thought she looked
exactly like Diana Ross.

587
00:33:09,362 --> 00:33:11,781
Yeah, I have seen her. Thanks.

588
00:33:11,864 --> 00:33:15,243
Whoo, I missed that.
She's a little light-skinned.

589
00:33:15,326 --> 00:33:18,413
[laughs]

590
00:33:18,496 --> 00:33:21,499
Oh, like a Foxy Brown.

591
00:33:22,041 --> 00:33:25,503
-[Lagueria] Yeah.
-Yes, yes, she looks very '70s.

592
00:33:25,586 --> 00:33:28,214
This fit is cute.
The, like, off-the-shoulder cutout.

593
00:33:28,881 --> 00:33:31,384
-This is cute.
-[Lagueria] Yeah, yeah.

594
00:33:31,467 --> 00:33:35,638
And this is their version of a 'fro,
I guess, right? [laughs]

595
00:33:35,722 --> 00:33:39,434
I barely knew that she existed.
I do remember seeing a picture of her.

596
00:33:39,517 --> 00:33:41,352
For what time it was,

597
00:33:41,436 --> 00:33:44,355
I definitely didn't see it
in the context of "It's the first."

598
00:33:44,439 --> 00:33:47,650
I don't know if I ever saw
the official first one.

599
00:33:47,734 --> 00:33:50,319
So maybe I… I didn't get that one
at my store. [laughs]

600
00:33:50,403 --> 00:33:52,030
I never saw it out in the market.

601
00:33:52,113 --> 00:33:54,866
Here I am now in my forties.
I'm like, "It existed all along?"

602
00:33:54,949 --> 00:33:57,618
It's nice to see
that they were creating a replica

603
00:33:57,702 --> 00:34:00,288
of what Black women
looked more like at that time,

604
00:34:00,371 --> 00:34:01,831
at least from the neck up.

605
00:34:02,623 --> 00:34:05,835
But I never saw that. So I'm just
disappointed I missed out on it.

606
00:34:06,836 --> 00:34:09,756
[Lagueria] You know, on that note
came another question.

607
00:34:09,839 --> 00:34:11,466
"Did they market Black Barbie?"

608
00:34:12,383 --> 00:34:14,302
I don't think
I ever really saw the commercials.

609
00:34:14,385 --> 00:34:17,096
I must have because I watched
Saturday morning cartoons,

610
00:34:17,180 --> 00:34:19,766
but I don't think
I really ever saw the commercials.

611
00:34:19,849 --> 00:34:22,810
If you saw a Barbie commercial,
it was Barbie was white.

612
00:34:23,644 --> 00:34:28,775
[Patricia] If Black dolls were promoted
as the most beautiful and hot commodity,

613
00:34:28,858 --> 00:34:31,778
they would have sold just as well,
if not better,

614
00:34:32,278 --> 00:34:33,488
than the white Barbie.

615
00:34:34,072 --> 00:34:36,032
I think I got a knockoff one.

616
00:34:36,115 --> 00:34:38,659
I don't know if my parents got me the…

617
00:34:38,743 --> 00:34:40,953
Because they were hard…
They were still hard to get.

618
00:34:41,037 --> 00:34:47,335
I think that if Mattel really knew
how well it was gonna do,

619
00:34:47,418 --> 00:34:54,258
more, um, effort would have been
put into maybe creating

620
00:34:54,342 --> 00:34:59,222
a world of Black dolls
rather than just one.

621
00:34:59,305 --> 00:35:01,307
[lively music plays]

622
00:35:18,991 --> 00:35:20,868
["Control" by Janet Jackson plays]

623
00:35:35,133 --> 00:35:37,927
[Lagueria] Um, I'm kind of
low-key loving this story

624
00:35:38,010 --> 00:35:40,471
about my aunt, Kitty, Black Barbie,

625
00:35:40,555 --> 00:35:43,015
and just talking to people
about Black dolls.

626
00:35:43,516 --> 00:35:46,394
Okay, so I'm not saying I love dolls now,

627
00:35:46,477 --> 00:35:49,814
but, you know, I'm learning
why they're not only important to her,

628
00:35:50,565 --> 00:35:52,066
they're important in general.

629
00:35:53,025 --> 00:35:56,696
And it's got me thinking
about little Lagueria

630
00:35:56,779 --> 00:35:59,866
and how she and her sister used to play.

631
00:36:00,408 --> 00:36:04,203
We used to play
by putting slips over our head,

632
00:36:04,287 --> 00:36:07,623
pretending it was long, blonde hair.

633
00:36:07,707 --> 00:36:10,251
As kids, we didn't understand
what that meant.

634
00:36:10,877 --> 00:36:14,964
But now it gives me a lot more
to think about when it comes to play

635
00:36:15,047 --> 00:36:16,007
and what it would mean

636
00:36:16,090 --> 00:36:18,718
to have a world of Black Barbies.

637
00:36:22,263 --> 00:36:24,682
-[girls] Ooh!
-[woman] Shani is here!

638
00:36:24,765 --> 00:36:27,143
♪ Shani, Shani
You walk, you smile ♪

639
00:36:27,226 --> 00:36:29,645
♪ Who, girl? You, girl
You got style… ♪

640
00:36:29,729 --> 00:36:31,189
[woman] Here's Shani and friends.

641
00:36:31,272 --> 00:36:32,273
♪ So hot ♪

642
00:36:32,356 --> 00:36:34,901
♪ We love all the looks you've got ♪

643
00:36:34,984 --> 00:36:39,822
I also did
a Black line of dolls called Shani.

644
00:36:39,906 --> 00:36:44,785
That particular line was as a result of

645
00:36:44,869 --> 00:36:48,080
the success of Black Barbie.

646
00:36:48,164 --> 00:36:52,335
I started collecting
Barbie dolls in college.

647
00:36:52,418 --> 00:36:56,964
When I saw Shani, there…
That was a new horizon.

648
00:36:57,048 --> 00:37:02,261
Well, they had Asha,
who was about your complexion,

649
00:37:02,345 --> 00:37:04,263
and she had keener features.

650
00:37:04,347 --> 00:37:09,393
They had Nichelle, who looks exactly like
my Aunt Toosley, my mom's cousin.

651
00:37:09,477 --> 00:37:11,520
And she was super dark.

652
00:37:11,604 --> 00:37:15,608
And then they had Shani, who is,
like, you know, just a pretty brown girl.

653
00:37:16,525 --> 00:37:17,735
It was revolutionary.

654
00:37:17,818 --> 00:37:20,321
[Kitty] When they released the dolls,

655
00:37:20,404 --> 00:37:22,114
the introduction to that

656
00:37:22,740 --> 00:37:26,327
was a huge production
that they did in New York.

657
00:37:26,410 --> 00:37:27,870
♪ And I wonder ♪

658
00:37:27,954 --> 00:37:33,125
-♪ Wonder ♪
-♪ Wonder ♪

659
00:37:33,209 --> 00:37:35,211
♪ Who's ♪

660
00:37:35,294 --> 00:37:39,507
♪ Who's ♪

661
00:37:40,174 --> 00:37:41,050
♪ Loving… ♪

662
00:37:41,133 --> 00:37:44,303
They wanted a doll that…
that had several different shades,

663
00:37:44,387 --> 00:37:47,598
as the Afro-American community does.

664
00:37:47,682 --> 00:37:49,934
I remember there was an article
in The Village Voice.

665
00:37:50,017 --> 00:37:52,603
They went on for pages and pages
about these dolls

666
00:37:52,687 --> 00:37:54,981
and how important this new thing was.

667
00:37:55,064 --> 00:37:58,484
And I saved that article.
I have it somewhere in storage.

668
00:37:58,567 --> 00:38:02,863
[woman 13] Shani is going to be
our entry into the ethnic marketplace.

669
00:38:02,947 --> 00:38:04,532
It's going to be heavily marketed,

670
00:38:04,615 --> 00:38:05,783
which is also a first

671
00:38:05,866 --> 00:38:07,785
because currently, there isn't

672
00:38:07,868 --> 00:38:10,538
any African American doll line

673
00:38:10,621 --> 00:38:15,126
that receives its own commercial,
that receives print ads and support,

674
00:38:15,209 --> 00:38:17,795
that will receive the PR focus

675
00:38:17,878 --> 00:38:19,547
and promotional tie-ins

676
00:38:19,630 --> 00:38:20,840
that we've developed.

677
00:38:22,842 --> 00:38:25,886
My name is Isis McKenzie Johnson.

678
00:38:26,929 --> 00:38:29,849
I initially fell in love with Black Barbie
when I was a teenager.

679
00:38:29,932 --> 00:38:33,394
Coming from Watts in South Central LA,
there was so much hardship.

680
00:38:33,477 --> 00:38:36,939
You didn't have time to focus on vanity.
You just wanna get through the day.

681
00:38:37,023 --> 00:38:40,735
Then when my family finally moved out
of the inner city to Rancho Cucamonga,

682
00:38:40,818 --> 00:38:43,821
there wasn't that many people of color
that were there.

683
00:38:43,904 --> 00:38:46,615
So I was called "nigger."
I was called "chocolate bar."

684
00:38:46,699 --> 00:38:50,036
I was called so many derogatory words
and names to describe me

685
00:38:50,119 --> 00:38:51,537
because of the way I looked.

686
00:38:53,456 --> 00:38:54,373
[sighs]

687
00:39:02,089 --> 00:39:02,923
[tuts]

688
00:39:03,007 --> 00:39:05,885
Oh my gosh,
I'm totally ruining my makeup. Um…

689
00:39:05,968 --> 00:39:06,844
[sniffles]

690
00:39:07,553 --> 00:39:10,723
And there was nothing I could relate to
when I would watch television.

691
00:39:10,806 --> 00:39:12,308
That I could associate myself

692
00:39:12,391 --> 00:39:14,685
and find an escape from the reality

693
00:39:14,769 --> 00:39:17,313
that was beating me up
'cause of the way I look.

694
00:39:17,396 --> 00:39:19,065
Most kids escape to television,

695
00:39:19,148 --> 00:39:22,026
but whenever I watched TV,
everyone was still white.

696
00:39:22,109 --> 00:39:24,820
When I finally start seeing a few shows
where there were Black people,

697
00:39:24,904 --> 00:39:26,364
they were always poor.

698
00:39:26,447 --> 00:39:27,948
It was always a reminder of

699
00:39:28,032 --> 00:39:30,242
the struggle is always
gonna be real for you.

700
00:39:32,244 --> 00:39:34,121
So when Black Barbies
finally came on the market,

701
00:39:34,205 --> 00:39:38,167
she represented success,
she represented beauty,

702
00:39:38,250 --> 00:39:42,129
and I could see
possibility in her for myself.

703
00:39:42,213 --> 00:39:43,672
Those little white girls had…

704
00:39:43,756 --> 00:39:46,425
They could
see possibility in their Barbies.

705
00:39:47,635 --> 00:39:50,304
I would look at that Barbie,
and I would try to see possibility,

706
00:39:50,388 --> 00:39:53,099
but I'd be reminded through my reality
that that's not your possibility

707
00:39:53,182 --> 00:39:54,600
because you're Black.

708
00:39:55,184 --> 00:39:57,186
And, uh, when Black Barbie came out,

709
00:39:57,269 --> 00:40:00,106
I was like,
"No, I think it is possible for me."

710
00:40:00,189 --> 00:40:01,065
So I… I don't…

711
00:40:01,148 --> 00:40:03,984
All the haters out there can kick rocks
because it did a lot for me.

712
00:40:04,068 --> 00:40:05,653
Black Barbies did a lot for me.

713
00:40:07,696 --> 00:40:12,243
[Kitty] Because I had made
a name for myself, I was given a group

714
00:40:12,326 --> 00:40:16,163
so that we could do even more dolls.

715
00:40:17,540 --> 00:40:19,542
My name is Stacey McBride-Irby,

716
00:40:19,625 --> 00:40:21,710
former Barbie designer.

717
00:40:21,794 --> 00:40:25,172
As a little girl,
I loved playing with dolls.

718
00:40:25,256 --> 00:40:27,007
Barbie was my favorite.

719
00:40:27,091 --> 00:40:30,469
So that's what made me
wanna be a fashion designer.

720
00:40:31,053 --> 00:40:34,598
There was a newspaper article
from Los Angeles Times

721
00:40:34,682 --> 00:40:36,517
featuring Kitty Black Perkins.

722
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:39,103
My dad saved the newspaper article for me

723
00:40:39,186 --> 00:40:42,815
because he wanted to inspire
and empower me.

724
00:40:42,898 --> 00:40:48,279
When I got into the garment district
or industry in the early '90s,

725
00:40:48,362 --> 00:40:50,698
I didn't see many people
that looked like me.

726
00:40:50,781 --> 00:40:53,617
But I didn't really have a plan B.

727
00:40:53,701 --> 00:40:57,371
I brought out that newspaper article
of Kitty Black Perkins.

728
00:40:57,455 --> 00:40:58,914
I cold-called her.

729
00:40:59,665 --> 00:41:02,001
-Hey!
-Hey!

730
00:41:02,084 --> 00:41:04,253
[Stacey] How you doing?

731
00:41:05,671 --> 00:41:10,593
When I first saw Kitty,
she had this white business suit on,

732
00:41:10,676 --> 00:41:13,220
and she had this big curly hair,

733
00:41:13,304 --> 00:41:15,389
and I'm like, "Oh my God, she's like

734
00:41:15,931 --> 00:41:21,270
angel-slash-actress-slash-Barbie."

735
00:41:21,353 --> 00:41:25,816
I know she has a convertible,
so her hair can blow in the wind.

736
00:41:25,900 --> 00:41:28,402
I don't know.
It was just something about you.

737
00:41:28,486 --> 00:41:31,071
The interview went great.
She gave me an assignment.

738
00:41:31,155 --> 00:41:34,575
I had to go home and buy a Barbie doll

739
00:41:34,658 --> 00:41:37,161
and create a fashion for this Barbie doll.

740
00:41:37,661 --> 00:41:44,043
And when we were sitting,
talking about what her expectations were,

741
00:41:44,126 --> 00:41:46,587
what her goals were and all of that,

742
00:41:46,670 --> 00:41:49,840
um, Stacey pulls out this folder.

743
00:41:49,924 --> 00:41:51,675
She had all these articles

744
00:41:53,052 --> 00:41:56,472
that she had clipped
from the newspaper about me.

745
00:41:56,555 --> 00:41:59,850
She tried to make it look
like it just kinda fell out.

746
00:41:59,934 --> 00:42:02,144
-But it did.
-Wait, wait.

747
00:42:02,228 --> 00:42:05,773
She deliberately dropped it
so that I could see it.

748
00:42:05,856 --> 00:42:08,192
I wanna tell you, that got you the job.

749
00:42:08,275 --> 00:42:11,070
She was very ambitious.

750
00:42:11,695 --> 00:42:15,157
Um, had a lot of great ideas.

751
00:42:15,741 --> 00:42:17,493
And so I just hired her.

752
00:42:21,539 --> 00:42:23,207
[Stacey] So I remember the first time

753
00:42:23,290 --> 00:42:25,960
Kitty took me kind of on a tour,

754
00:42:26,043 --> 00:42:30,923
and I met your aunt Mae,
and she was so bubbly.

755
00:42:31,006 --> 00:42:32,299
Kitty introduced me,

756
00:42:32,383 --> 00:42:37,388
so every time I went over
to the corporate, uh, building,

757
00:42:37,471 --> 00:42:40,474
she would say, "Hi, Little Kitty."

758
00:42:40,558 --> 00:42:44,061
[laughs] I'll never know
if she even knew my name was Stacey.

759
00:42:44,144 --> 00:42:46,939
I became a receptionist in '89,

760
00:42:47,022 --> 00:42:49,024
and I left in '99.

761
00:42:49,108 --> 00:42:52,152
I was able to meet people
from all over the world.

762
00:42:52,695 --> 00:42:56,782
The best thing about communicating
with people is a smile.

763
00:42:56,865 --> 00:43:02,204
She just had so much energy,
and it was nice to see another Black woman

764
00:43:02,830 --> 00:43:06,333
within the corporate building in Mattel.

765
00:43:07,209 --> 00:43:11,672
I learned everything, actually,
I needed to know in the toy industry

766
00:43:11,755 --> 00:43:13,924
from Kitty Black Perkins.

767
00:43:14,508 --> 00:43:17,678
[Kitty] I hired her in as a designer.

768
00:43:17,761 --> 00:43:20,139
I hired another Black designer.

769
00:43:20,222 --> 00:43:22,141
His name was Thomas Quinn.

770
00:43:22,224 --> 00:43:26,895
I just mentored them
to do their own thing,

771
00:43:26,979 --> 00:43:29,607
and, uh, they were… they were great.

772
00:43:29,690 --> 00:43:32,234
[Stacey] After approximately two years,

773
00:43:32,318 --> 00:43:37,573
I was petitioned to come
to one of the other Barbie teams.

774
00:43:37,656 --> 00:43:41,076
It was a little scary, but I was excited.

775
00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:42,995
I felt like I was ready,

776
00:43:43,078 --> 00:43:46,874
but it was just taking me
to a whole different world

777
00:43:46,957 --> 00:43:49,376
because now I have to compete on my own.

778
00:43:51,337 --> 00:43:54,923
[Kitty] I retired from Mattel in 2003.

779
00:43:55,007 --> 00:43:56,133
When I left,

780
00:43:56,216 --> 00:43:58,636
Stacey took on a major role,

781
00:43:58,719 --> 00:43:59,845
which was great.

782
00:44:00,554 --> 00:44:04,475
♪ Don't you know why ♪

783
00:44:04,558 --> 00:44:07,227
♪ I wanted to be an AKA ♪

784
00:44:07,811 --> 00:44:10,522
♪ An Alpha Kappa Alpha ♪

785
00:44:11,106 --> 00:44:13,567
♪ I wanted to be an AKA ♪

786
00:44:13,651 --> 00:44:15,319
[Stacey] One of my colleagues,

787
00:44:15,402 --> 00:44:20,366
he was like,
"Stacey, we have this AKA doll."

788
00:44:20,449 --> 00:44:24,870
Like, you know, "Do you wanna design it?
'Cause I don't know anything about it."

789
00:44:24,953 --> 00:44:28,332
I'm like, "Yes, I would love to!"

790
00:44:29,083 --> 00:44:32,628
[Ashley] Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
Incorporated was founded in 1908.

791
00:44:33,504 --> 00:44:36,757
So this was a hundred…
This was like a centennial doll.

792
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:38,342
It was like a collector's item.

793
00:44:38,425 --> 00:44:41,512
These are some of the original sketches
that I created.

794
00:44:41,595 --> 00:44:44,056
One was called the Contemporary Goddess.

795
00:44:44,139 --> 00:44:46,350
One was the Businesswoman.

796
00:44:46,433 --> 00:44:49,144
And one is… She's going to a Greek gala.

797
00:44:49,228 --> 00:44:51,772
And the AKA sorority,

798
00:44:51,855 --> 00:44:53,857
um, they actually wanted all three,

799
00:44:53,941 --> 00:44:56,652
but we were only able to produce one.

800
00:44:56,735 --> 00:44:58,529
People were looking for it.

801
00:44:58,612 --> 00:45:01,573
I wasn't at Mattel. They were calling me.

802
00:45:01,657 --> 00:45:03,117
It was sold out.

803
00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:04,576
[Lagueria] Do you have the doll?

804
00:45:04,660 --> 00:45:07,788
I do. Just like I have everything
that involves Kamala.

805
00:45:07,871 --> 00:45:10,624
It's, like, you have to have it.
This is, like, a big… It's a big deal.

806
00:45:11,291 --> 00:45:14,002
[Stacey] This was a doll
that I created on my own.

807
00:45:14,086 --> 00:45:18,424
I did research, and it felt good.
It meant something to me.

808
00:45:18,507 --> 00:45:25,264
And that's when I really got excited
about what could be next.

809
00:45:25,848 --> 00:45:28,058
That's when So In Style was born.

810
00:45:28,851 --> 00:45:32,438
Hi, my name is Sierra,
and this is my mom, Stacey.

811
00:45:33,063 --> 00:45:35,065
[Stacey] Sierra actually inspired me

812
00:45:35,149 --> 00:45:37,735
to design this African American
line of Barbie dolls

813
00:45:37,818 --> 00:45:41,280
because I wanted to give her dolls
that looked like her,

814
00:45:41,363 --> 00:45:42,906
reach girls in my community,

815
00:45:42,990 --> 00:45:45,534
and give them dolls
that they could relate to.

816
00:45:45,617 --> 00:45:48,370
My daughter, at the time,
was not playing with Barbie,

817
00:45:48,454 --> 00:45:50,873
and I didn't understand it,
as a Barbie lover.

818
00:45:51,582 --> 00:45:55,252
How Mattel would work,
marketing would tell us an idea,

819
00:45:55,335 --> 00:45:57,212
and we would create from that idea.

820
00:45:57,296 --> 00:45:59,089
And then we'll get from marketing,

821
00:45:59,173 --> 00:46:01,633
"Oh, we need a Black doll as well."

822
00:46:01,717 --> 00:46:03,969
So not all of them got Black dolls.

823
00:46:04,052 --> 00:46:08,766
But then the retailers might not choose
the African American doll.

824
00:46:08,849 --> 00:46:14,229
I wanted to create a line of dolls
that the retailers couldn't say no to.

825
00:46:14,313 --> 00:46:17,357
The big sister
would mentor her little sister

826
00:46:17,441 --> 00:46:21,487
into math and music
and cheerleading and science

827
00:46:21,570 --> 00:46:23,238
or art and journalism.

828
00:46:23,322 --> 00:46:26,575
So I wanted to have a fun aspect to them,

829
00:46:26,658 --> 00:46:30,037
but I wanted them to be educated as well.

830
00:46:30,621 --> 00:46:32,581
The Mattel African American Forum

831
00:46:32,664 --> 00:46:34,208
kinda helped champion it.

832
00:46:34,291 --> 00:46:37,085
Stephen came out with the logo.

833
00:46:37,169 --> 00:46:41,548
David came out
with the "So In Style, S.I.S."

834
00:46:41,632 --> 00:46:45,093
The packaging designer,
she and I went shopping

835
00:46:45,177 --> 00:46:48,472
at the Slauson Swap Meet for inspiration.

836
00:46:48,555 --> 00:46:52,392
So it was a whole team of us
kinda building this out,

837
00:46:52,476 --> 00:46:54,228
and it… it felt great.

838
00:46:54,311 --> 00:46:56,855
My daughter loved playing
with these dolls.

839
00:46:56,939 --> 00:46:59,942
It was nice to see
something that I created

840
00:47:00,025 --> 00:47:02,653
making my daughter have so much joy.

841
00:47:03,237 --> 00:47:06,824
It was a very intentional, uh,
mission for my mom

842
00:47:06,907 --> 00:47:08,784
to make sure that my sisters and I

843
00:47:08,867 --> 00:47:11,203
saw ourselves in the toys
that we played with.

844
00:47:11,286 --> 00:47:15,207
So she only purchased,
uh, Black Barbies for us.

845
00:47:15,290 --> 00:47:17,960
It was made very clear to me
from very early on

846
00:47:18,043 --> 00:47:21,088
that there were not gonna be
any white dolls in our house.

847
00:47:21,171 --> 00:47:25,259
I used to make my own, uh, hijabs,
uh, for my dolls, growing up.

848
00:47:25,342 --> 00:47:29,054
Especially if, uh, you know,
I was playing with the cars.

849
00:47:29,137 --> 00:47:32,724
I couldn't get in without my hijab on.
You don't wanna mess up your hair.

850
00:47:32,808 --> 00:47:34,309
I don't think, for me, they were dolls.

851
00:47:34,393 --> 00:47:37,396
They were representations
of who I wanted to be at a certain point.

852
00:47:37,479 --> 00:47:41,942
So, you know, they were doctors, lawyers,
flying all over the country. Doing stuff.

853
00:47:42,025 --> 00:47:44,570
I think about what I do now,
which is tell stories

854
00:47:44,653 --> 00:47:47,698
about powerful, interesting women
living these exciting lives.

855
00:47:47,781 --> 00:47:49,908
I was doing that when I was five.

856
00:47:49,992 --> 00:47:53,787
If Kerry Washington in Scandal
is not a Black Barbie,

857
00:47:53,871 --> 00:47:56,248
down to the outfits
and the dress-up and the clothes,

858
00:47:56,331 --> 00:47:57,875
I don't know what is, really.

859
00:47:59,167 --> 00:48:01,086
I go by Byronique Barbie.

860
00:48:01,712 --> 00:48:05,674
So I am a self-proclaimed
Black Barbie doll myself.

861
00:48:05,757 --> 00:48:08,510
I have it tattooed
on my finger, "Barbie doll."

862
00:48:08,594 --> 00:48:12,598
I have a whole wardrobe, um, earrings.

863
00:48:12,681 --> 00:48:16,059
I don't know which is which,
but one says my first name, "Byronique."

864
00:48:16,143 --> 00:48:17,102
One says "Barbie."

865
00:48:17,185 --> 00:48:20,564
I do embody being the Black Barbie
in my own way

866
00:48:20,647 --> 00:48:23,483
as far as being very adventurous,

867
00:48:23,567 --> 00:48:25,736
having many different career paths.

868
00:48:25,819 --> 00:48:27,571
I've skydived twice.

869
00:48:27,654 --> 00:48:30,657
I've swam with sharks in Hawaii.

870
00:48:30,741 --> 00:48:34,161
Um, jet-skiing. I've parasailed.

871
00:48:34,244 --> 00:48:36,997
For so long,
I feel like it was a statistic

872
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:39,416
where it's just, you know,
a white-woman thing

873
00:48:39,499 --> 00:48:41,919
to be adventurous,
to do all these exciting different things,

874
00:48:42,002 --> 00:48:43,921
to have all these different lives.

875
00:48:44,004 --> 00:48:47,841
But now, seeing a Black Barbie
can do the exact same things,

876
00:48:47,925 --> 00:48:51,553
it's, like, so important to me,
and I try to embody that.

877
00:48:51,637 --> 00:48:56,016
Being a boss-ass bitch, that comes
with a lot of pressure, a lot of stress.

878
00:48:56,099 --> 00:49:01,438
But being able to walk through life,
and… and do it, you know, so effortlessly,

879
00:49:01,521 --> 00:49:04,650
and I feel like that's what Barbie…
Black Barbie embodies.

880
00:49:04,733 --> 00:49:08,570
Like, being able to handle the pressure,
handle the stress,

881
00:49:08,654 --> 00:49:11,740
still keep it cute,
keep it classy, keep it together.

882
00:49:11,823 --> 00:49:13,533
Just, you know, do you,

883
00:49:14,201 --> 00:49:17,204
and make every single day count,
every moment count.

884
00:49:18,163 --> 00:49:19,957
[Lagueria] So she's
really inspiring for you.

885
00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:21,667
She is, she is.

886
00:49:21,750 --> 00:49:24,670
I… I really be
going through my day asking myself,

887
00:49:24,753 --> 00:49:27,464
"What would Black Barbie
do in this moment?" You know?

888
00:49:27,547 --> 00:49:29,174
Uh… [laughs]

889
00:49:30,926 --> 00:49:32,761
[Stacey] Every year, we would do

890
00:49:32,844 --> 00:49:36,723
the United Negro College Fund event.

891
00:49:36,807 --> 00:49:41,561
They wanted to celebrate
the 30th anniversary of Black Barbie.

892
00:49:41,645 --> 00:49:45,565
I did not know
Stacey was gonna do the 30th anniversary.

893
00:49:46,066 --> 00:49:51,071
I came back to a celebration
and found out that she did it,

894
00:49:51,154 --> 00:49:56,201
and I was elated
because she was the best person to do it.

895
00:49:59,079 --> 00:50:02,332
Here is the first Black Barbie

896
00:50:02,416 --> 00:50:06,253
that I designed
for the 30th anniversary of Black Barbie.

897
00:50:06,336 --> 00:50:08,839
And this is my rendition of the 1980 doll.

898
00:50:08,922 --> 00:50:10,882
I wanted to jazz her up a bit

899
00:50:10,966 --> 00:50:13,010
because I thought
both would be auctioned off.

900
00:50:13,093 --> 00:50:15,721
But they only chose to do the one.

901
00:50:15,804 --> 00:50:19,933
I was inspired by the cutouts
of the original jumpsuit.

902
00:50:20,017 --> 00:50:22,352
She's a little… a little more sexy,

903
00:50:22,436 --> 00:50:24,521
you know, so I put a cutout in the front,

904
00:50:24,604 --> 00:50:27,315
and then, instead of a short jumpsuit,

905
00:50:27,399 --> 00:50:31,820
I made a longer jumpsuit
and cut out on the pants legs.

906
00:50:31,903 --> 00:50:35,115
And then I added,
you know, some rhinestone jewels.

907
00:50:35,198 --> 00:50:39,786
And this is actually
my Chandra So In Style Barbie,

908
00:50:39,870 --> 00:50:41,580
which was the darker skin tone.

909
00:50:41,663 --> 00:50:43,665
[feel-good music playing]

910
00:50:51,882 --> 00:50:53,300
[music fades]

911
00:50:55,093 --> 00:50:58,513
[Lagueria] I thought this was gonna be
a simple story about stupid dolls,

912
00:50:58,597 --> 00:51:02,184
but something about Black Barbie's story
hits different.

913
00:51:02,267 --> 00:51:05,854
I'm relating to a doll, y'all.

914
00:51:05,937 --> 00:51:10,776
Like, I feel connected to her,
to my aunt, Kitty, and Stacey

915
00:51:10,859 --> 00:51:13,070
in a way that I have no words for.

916
00:51:13,153 --> 00:51:17,074
Hearing this great legacy story
of how representation can work

917
00:51:17,157 --> 00:51:20,410
is giving me so much joy right now.

918
00:51:20,494 --> 00:51:22,287
I'm actually excited and curious

919
00:51:22,370 --> 00:51:26,583
to see who's designing
the 40th Anniversary Black Barbie in 2020.

920
00:51:26,666 --> 00:51:29,503
[Lagueria] Have you heard anything
about them celebrating

921
00:51:29,586 --> 00:51:31,755
Black Barbie's 40th birthday?

922
00:51:31,838 --> 00:51:33,131
Which is…

923
00:51:33,215 --> 00:51:34,716
-Next year.
-[Lagueria] Yes.

924
00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:37,552
Yeah, so I have not heard anything

925
00:51:37,636 --> 00:51:42,766
about the celebration
of the 40th anniversary of Black Barbie.

926
00:51:42,849 --> 00:51:44,434
Um, it would be great.

927
00:51:46,019 --> 00:51:49,439
Give me a call.
I'd love to celebrate with you guys.

928
00:51:51,108 --> 00:51:53,026
[Lagueria] Would the legacy continue?

929
00:51:55,612 --> 00:51:56,738
I guess…

930
00:51:58,323 --> 00:51:59,157
not.

931
00:52:00,909 --> 00:52:05,372
Bill is the… the kind of person
that grew up with Barbie.

932
00:52:05,455 --> 00:52:08,667
He just kinda made Barbie his career.

933
00:52:08,750 --> 00:52:12,671
I… I think I probably worked with him
about ten years.

934
00:52:12,754 --> 00:52:14,422
My name is Bill Greening.

935
00:52:14,506 --> 00:52:18,385
I'm a principal designer
on the Barbie Signature line.

936
00:52:18,468 --> 00:52:21,263
I've worked for Mattel for 25 years.

937
00:52:21,346 --> 00:52:24,099
I played with Barbie as a child.

938
00:52:24,182 --> 00:52:26,518
Um, a lot of the dolls
I played with were Kitty's.

939
00:52:26,601 --> 00:52:29,104
I played Barbies
with my cousin all the time,

940
00:52:29,187 --> 00:52:31,565
and I remember
playing with a lot of Kitty's designs.

941
00:52:31,648 --> 00:52:34,442
We played with Pretty Changes.
We played with Black Barbie.

942
00:52:34,526 --> 00:52:36,528
We played with Pink and Pretty.

943
00:52:36,611 --> 00:52:39,322
So when I think about
my childhood relationship with Barbie,

944
00:52:39,406 --> 00:52:41,408
Kitty is a big part of that.

945
00:52:41,491 --> 00:52:44,953
I was really thinking
of her original doll,

946
00:52:45,036 --> 00:52:49,040
um, and how we could keep
the elements that Kitty liked.

947
00:52:49,124 --> 00:52:51,960
I really tried my best,
I think, to try to link it up

948
00:52:52,043 --> 00:52:55,755
but kind of just give it a little
modern twist, I guess you could say.

949
00:52:55,839 --> 00:52:57,883
-And you did a fabulous job.
-Thanks, Kitty.

950
00:52:57,966 --> 00:53:00,886
And it means…
When Kitty blessed it, I was like…

951
00:53:00,969 --> 00:53:03,805
-[both laugh]
-That was the best compliment ever.

952
00:53:03,889 --> 00:53:06,766
Yeah. I really wanted
to honor Kitty's legacy with this doll.

953
00:53:07,267 --> 00:53:09,561
And I will also say, too,

954
00:53:09,644 --> 00:53:14,816
the designer, um, aspect of it,

955
00:53:14,900 --> 00:53:21,364
it's hard to find designers
that are targeting dolls.

956
00:53:21,448 --> 00:53:22,616
[Bill] As far as designers,

957
00:53:22,699 --> 00:53:25,410
we currently do not have
a Black designer on the team.

958
00:53:25,493 --> 00:53:28,538
I know that is
very important for leadership.

959
00:53:28,622 --> 00:53:31,291
And this is an opportunity

960
00:53:32,292 --> 00:53:35,420
for a lot of little Black girls,

961
00:53:36,338 --> 00:53:37,923
little Black boys,

962
00:53:38,465 --> 00:53:41,635
to really focus

963
00:53:42,219 --> 00:53:47,057
on replicating, uh, the Black Barbie.

964
00:53:47,140 --> 00:53:51,519
Um, I am hopeful,
you know, like, we have a future Kitty,

965
00:53:51,603 --> 00:53:55,732
a future Stacey, another Stephen,
like, coming in to really make an impact.

966
00:53:55,815 --> 00:53:57,108
One of the interesting things

967
00:53:57,192 --> 00:53:58,318
about Black dolls

968
00:53:58,401 --> 00:54:00,737
is that, uh, when they are made

969
00:54:00,820 --> 00:54:02,322
by Black people,

970
00:54:02,405 --> 00:54:05,200
there is so much versatility.

971
00:54:05,283 --> 00:54:08,954
There's so many different ideas
that come out.

972
00:54:09,037 --> 00:54:10,372
So many looks.

973
00:54:10,455 --> 00:54:15,961
So many ways by which they,
um, you know, create for their dolls.

974
00:54:16,044 --> 00:54:17,545
It's very interesting

975
00:54:17,629 --> 00:54:22,050
because, uh, you don't find,
you know, like, cookie-cutter dolls.

976
00:54:22,133 --> 00:54:26,346
Uh, you find dolls that have
a lot of thought and a lot of creativity.

977
00:54:26,429 --> 00:54:27,847
My name is Mason Williams.

978
00:54:27,931 --> 00:54:30,392
I'm the senior director, global lead,

979
00:54:30,475 --> 00:54:33,103
of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
at Mattel.

980
00:54:33,186 --> 00:54:36,273
Been in the toy industry,
game industry for about 25 years now.

981
00:54:36,356 --> 00:54:39,234
I talk about Barbie with extreme pride.

982
00:54:39,317 --> 00:54:41,236
I love the fact that there was foibles

983
00:54:41,319 --> 00:54:43,238
and the fact
that there needed to be called out

984
00:54:43,321 --> 00:54:44,656
that we needed to be more diverse.

985
00:54:44,739 --> 00:54:48,118
We needed to think about body image.
We need to think about all that stuff.

986
00:54:49,369 --> 00:54:52,789
In Mattel's design departments,
we have a few Black designers,

987
00:54:53,373 --> 00:54:55,792
but it's not much more
than you would have thought

988
00:54:55,875 --> 00:54:57,377
when it was… when Kitty was there.

989
00:54:58,003 --> 00:54:59,546
While companies have grown,

990
00:54:59,629 --> 00:55:02,090
we've not grown exponentially
in our numbers.

991
00:55:02,173 --> 00:55:04,634
Our numbers have grown,
like, one over one.

992
00:55:05,427 --> 00:55:09,514
Let's look at what the current
constituents of the design departments

993
00:55:09,597 --> 00:55:12,517
across the toy industry,
first and foremost, okay?

994
00:55:12,600 --> 00:55:14,644
Black people are
the most underrepresented.

995
00:55:14,728 --> 00:55:17,397
I don't think that that would be
a surprise to anyone.

996
00:55:17,480 --> 00:55:22,319
Because you don't know what…
you can be something

997
00:55:22,402 --> 00:55:23,903
if you've never seen it.

998
00:55:23,987 --> 00:55:28,575
I go to career days. I've been going
for, I don't know, 20 years, right?

999
00:55:28,658 --> 00:55:32,704
And… and when I go…
I put, "Mason, toy maker."

1000
00:55:33,538 --> 00:55:37,042
And I have always put that.
I still do, even as what I do now.

1001
00:55:37,125 --> 00:55:40,295
Because I believe in, like, showing

1002
00:55:40,378 --> 00:55:43,131
that there are cats out there
who are doing this.

1003
00:55:43,214 --> 00:55:46,760
We need to think about
getting folks involved earlier.

1004
00:55:47,510 --> 00:55:51,306
High-school level.
Partner with HBCUs a lot more.

1005
00:55:51,389 --> 00:55:55,393
Open up the… the ways
that we're seeing the… the skill sets,

1006
00:55:55,477 --> 00:55:57,062
the education requirements.

1007
00:55:57,145 --> 00:55:59,814
Really investing in a pipeline of talent.

1008
00:55:59,898 --> 00:56:04,110
Now, again, it takes the moment
to say, like, "Let's go do this."

1009
00:56:04,194 --> 00:56:06,237
And so that's the important piece.

1010
00:56:06,321 --> 00:56:08,948
And for too long,
those conversations stalled out.

1011
00:56:09,032 --> 00:56:10,700
I am Tasja Kirkwood.

1012
00:56:10,784 --> 00:56:13,620
I am the head of Global Consumer Insights
here at Mattel.

1013
00:56:13,703 --> 00:56:16,289
You know, I… I… I… talk to kids all day.

1014
00:56:16,373 --> 00:56:20,335
Um, a lot of what I do
fuels the design and development process,

1015
00:56:20,418 --> 00:56:23,922
and I think that's really important
when it comes to this topic specifically.

1016
00:56:24,005 --> 00:56:26,216
I do think the pipeline
is super important.

1017
00:56:26,299 --> 00:56:27,884
I think it's about diversity,

1018
00:56:27,967 --> 00:56:30,136
but it's also about
diversity of thought, right?

1019
00:56:30,220 --> 00:56:32,514
We all think differently.
We have different experiences.

1020
00:56:32,597 --> 00:56:35,558
So infusing that diversity of thought
into everything we do,

1021
00:56:35,642 --> 00:56:39,229
from design and development
to marketing to strategy, whatever it is,

1022
00:56:39,312 --> 00:56:40,522
it's extremely important.

1023
00:56:40,605 --> 00:56:43,441
We just have to amplify
what these jobs actually are

1024
00:56:43,525 --> 00:56:46,986
and what the possibility
of impact actually is.

1025
00:56:47,070 --> 00:56:50,490
And I think that that's the thing, right?
That's… that's what Black Barbie did.

1026
00:56:50,573 --> 00:56:52,200
She showed
there were career possibilities,

1027
00:56:52,283 --> 00:56:55,412
and we just have to continue
to amplify that ourselves as well.

1028
00:56:57,163 --> 00:56:59,749
[Lagueria] Yes, let's do this.

1029
00:56:59,833 --> 00:57:03,253
Let's jump-start
those stalled conversations.

1030
00:57:03,336 --> 00:57:06,381
I mean, all of this started
with a question

1031
00:57:06,464 --> 00:57:09,175
from a conversation
between me and my aunt.

1032
00:57:09,259 --> 00:57:10,969
Now look how far we've come.

1033
00:57:11,052 --> 00:57:12,971
From one Black Barbie

1034
00:57:13,054 --> 00:57:15,682
to a world of Black Barbies

1035
00:57:15,765 --> 00:57:18,977
to more Black women becoming Barbies.

1036
00:57:19,060 --> 00:57:22,147
I am here for all of this. Yes.

1037
00:57:22,230 --> 00:57:28,027
So I remember when I got the message
that Mattel had called and said,

1038
00:57:28,111 --> 00:57:31,281
"We'd like to make Shonda a Barbie.
Would she like to be made into a Barbie?"

1039
00:57:31,364 --> 00:57:33,992
I was like, "Absolutely."
That was so exciting to me.

1040
00:57:34,534 --> 00:57:35,869
It felt magical.

1041
00:57:35,952 --> 00:57:39,831
To be in a moment where,
you know, you get the call,

1042
00:57:39,914 --> 00:57:41,833
and they're gonna make
a Barbie in your likeness.

1043
00:57:41,916 --> 00:57:43,501
I just thought it was so exciting.

1044
00:57:43,585 --> 00:57:48,256
It was like, "Wow, I can be a part
of this thing that is, um, iconic to me

1045
00:57:48,339 --> 00:57:52,385
in a different way
because Black women are a part of it now."

1046
00:57:52,469 --> 00:57:57,891
So this is my Barbie.
I cried big tears when I first saw her.

1047
00:57:57,974 --> 00:58:02,103
I love this doll.
This is my doll, um, the Shonda doll.

1048
00:58:02,187 --> 00:58:04,731
I call her Glamour Shonda
because she's all dressed up.

1049
00:58:05,231 --> 00:58:07,442
So this is my second Barbie doll.

1050
00:58:08,026 --> 00:58:11,112
This one, um, was the ballerina princess

1051
00:58:11,196 --> 00:58:14,949
that I played in, um, Disney's
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.

1052
00:58:15,033 --> 00:58:18,286
I was completely a part of the process.

1053
00:58:18,369 --> 00:58:23,791
Shondaland has an amazing
sort of head of design,

1054
00:58:23,875 --> 00:58:25,543
and so… Sandie Bailey.

1055
00:58:25,627 --> 00:58:29,506
So Sandie came in and really had
those conversations with Mattel

1056
00:58:29,589 --> 00:58:31,299
about what the doll should look like.

1057
00:58:31,382 --> 00:58:34,802
I would get things from her,
and I would say, "My butt's too small."

1058
00:58:34,886 --> 00:58:37,639
And she'd go back
and find a lovely way to talk about that.

1059
00:58:37,722 --> 00:58:39,599
The first thing that we did

1060
00:58:39,682 --> 00:58:41,809
was send them reference photos.

1061
00:58:41,893 --> 00:58:43,728
So Shonda and I worked to pull

1062
00:58:43,811 --> 00:58:46,189
maybe five to eight photos

1063
00:58:46,272 --> 00:58:51,027
that she really felt had the right hair,
the right face and makeup,

1064
00:58:51,110 --> 00:58:54,781
in that time period
that she wanted the doll to look like.

1065
00:58:54,864 --> 00:58:58,117
I wanted to make sure that if,
you know, people were seeing this,

1066
00:58:58,201 --> 00:59:00,328
it was a representation of me as I am.

1067
00:59:00,411 --> 00:59:04,123
Not some perfect,
you know, like, sanitized version.

1068
00:59:04,207 --> 00:59:06,876
I made sure
that her waist was thick, you know?

1069
00:59:06,960 --> 00:59:09,796
And I made sure that,
you know, she had a chest like I had.

1070
00:59:09,879 --> 00:59:13,466
One has a more… a little bit more
of an hourglass shape,

1071
00:59:14,259 --> 00:59:17,303
um, and their butts
are definitely different.

1072
00:59:17,387 --> 00:59:18,805
We ended up going with this one.

1073
00:59:18,888 --> 00:59:20,682
She's really gonna represent me.

1074
00:59:20,765 --> 00:59:23,893
And I remember,
in the last iteration of the doll, she…

1075
00:59:23,977 --> 00:59:25,395
Her bust was not big enough.

1076
00:59:25,478 --> 00:59:28,273
They were like, "It's too late, Misty."
I was like, "Well, pad that bra."

1077
00:59:28,356 --> 00:59:30,316
So we padded her bra. [laughs]

1078
00:59:30,400 --> 00:59:35,363
[Ibtihaj] You know, I was told as a kid
that I had big legs, right?

1079
00:59:35,446 --> 00:59:38,366
And I feel like these legs
helped me win an Olympic medal,

1080
00:59:38,449 --> 00:59:42,745
so I want my Barbie doll's legs
to be really strong and to be athletic.

1081
00:59:42,829 --> 00:59:46,332
I'm going to be a second Barbie,
which is amazing.

1082
00:59:46,416 --> 00:59:48,251
To have them come back and say,

1083
00:59:48,334 --> 00:59:52,046
"We want you to do another one
more representative of the work you do."

1084
00:59:52,130 --> 00:59:54,632
I wanted her to look more professional.

1085
00:59:54,716 --> 00:59:57,927
I think the second Barbie
was a great opportunity

1086
00:59:58,011 --> 01:00:03,433
for young girls to see,
you know, a writer,

1087
01:00:03,516 --> 01:00:07,520
a woman of color in a position like that.

1088
01:00:07,604 --> 01:00:08,938
I've always said, you know,

1089
01:00:09,022 --> 01:00:12,358
you really have to be able
to have the power to dream something.

1090
01:00:12,442 --> 01:00:15,069
You don't have that power to dream it
if you've never seen it before.

1091
01:00:17,322 --> 01:00:21,743
[Monica] So the dolls that I buy
for my daughters are all Black dolls.

1092
01:00:22,243 --> 01:00:26,456
I even try to buy dolls
that have hair textures like them

1093
01:00:26,539 --> 01:00:29,167
so they can kind of relate more.

1094
01:00:29,250 --> 01:00:32,253
Now it's, like, normal.
Like, "Oh yeah. Of course she has locs."

1095
01:00:32,337 --> 01:00:35,465
"Of course she has an Afro."
Like, "Why wouldn't she?"

1096
01:00:35,548 --> 01:00:38,801
[Byronique] We have Barbie doll
in a wheelchair. That's… that's great.

1097
01:00:38,885 --> 01:00:41,679
All those things are so necessary.

1098
01:00:41,763 --> 01:00:43,806
So necessary
in the world we live in today.

1099
01:00:43,890 --> 01:00:46,434
I have a daughter.
She's still young. She's seven.

1100
01:00:46,517 --> 01:00:50,938
The imaginative play is about the world,
and it's about creating a community.

1101
01:00:51,022 --> 01:00:52,398
So she has more dolls,

1102
01:00:52,482 --> 01:00:54,067
and they are a variety of color.

1103
01:00:54,150 --> 01:00:56,944
'Cause I want her to know
that, in addition to yourself,

1104
01:00:57,028 --> 01:00:59,322
there are many different people
in the world

1105
01:00:59,405 --> 01:01:01,991
with different languages
and different ideas

1106
01:01:02,075 --> 01:01:03,743
and different perspectives.

1107
01:01:04,243 --> 01:01:07,121
In so many ways, it can change the world.

1108
01:01:07,205 --> 01:01:11,042
I mean, that sounds, like,
intense and so large,

1109
01:01:11,125 --> 01:01:12,377
but it… but it's true.

1110
01:01:12,460 --> 01:01:16,589
Even from a young age,
children can learn about inclusiveness.

1111
01:01:16,673 --> 01:01:18,091
They can learn about diversity.

1112
01:01:18,174 --> 01:01:21,135
They can learn about
different textures of hair and melanin

1113
01:01:21,219 --> 01:01:22,512
and all these things that,

1114
01:01:22,595 --> 01:01:27,141
if you're just looking at dolls
and Barbies that look just like you,

1115
01:01:27,225 --> 01:01:30,103
your mind isn't gonna be able
to open itself up to that.

1116
01:01:30,186 --> 01:01:33,523
Whenever I know a white person
that's having a child,

1117
01:01:33,606 --> 01:01:36,359
they know… [laughs]

1118
01:01:36,442 --> 01:01:38,861
…that the gift I'm giving them
is a Black doll,

1119
01:01:38,945 --> 01:01:40,321
a book with Black kids in it.

1120
01:01:40,405 --> 01:01:42,323
Same with my Black friends that have kids.

1121
01:01:42,407 --> 01:01:45,243
So far, all the feedback
has been positive.

1122
01:01:45,326 --> 01:01:47,912
No one has ever been like,
"Why did you give me this Black doll?"

1123
01:01:47,995 --> 01:01:49,038
Kids just love it.

1124
01:01:49,122 --> 01:01:51,124
[intriguing music playing]

1125
01:01:51,791 --> 01:01:54,377
[Lagueria] But how far
do we still have to go?

1126
01:01:54,919 --> 01:01:58,673
I mean, Barbies are more inclusive now,

1127
01:01:58,756 --> 01:02:01,384
so I would like to think
that little Lagueria

1128
01:02:01,467 --> 01:02:04,345
would have liked
playing with these Barbies.

1129
01:02:05,555 --> 01:02:07,390
But I still wondered,

1130
01:02:07,473 --> 01:02:10,518
how much has actually changed?

1131
01:02:10,601 --> 01:02:12,562
My name is Amirah Saafir.

1132
01:02:12,645 --> 01:02:15,732
Um, I am a professor
at Cal State Fullerton

1133
01:02:15,815 --> 01:02:17,692
in the Child & Adolescent Studies
department,

1134
01:02:17,775 --> 01:02:20,570
and I'm really interested
in how contextual factors,

1135
01:02:20,653 --> 01:02:22,655
especially school contextual factors,

1136
01:02:22,739 --> 01:02:25,116
impact how Black kids feel
about their Blackness.

1137
01:02:25,199 --> 01:02:28,286
So the idea was really
just to hear from kids

1138
01:02:28,369 --> 01:02:31,247
and to show them Barbies
as they appear today

1139
01:02:31,330 --> 01:02:33,249
and to hear how they're perceiving them.

1140
01:02:33,332 --> 01:02:36,711
The inspiration from it
was the doll test by Clark and Clark,

1141
01:02:36,794 --> 01:02:40,631
and so I'd say it was inspired by that
but not modeled after it.

1142
01:02:40,715 --> 01:02:42,383
We wanted to be intentional about

1143
01:02:42,467 --> 01:02:45,344
not centering the conversation
on Black versus white

1144
01:02:45,428 --> 01:02:48,055
but rather all the shades
and shapes and sizes

1145
01:02:48,139 --> 01:02:49,348
that Barbies can come in.

1146
01:02:49,849 --> 01:02:52,685
And then the last piece
was this conversation with experts,

1147
01:02:52,769 --> 01:02:54,270
where we have researchers,

1148
01:02:54,353 --> 01:02:56,939
people who specialize
in a variety of different things,

1149
01:02:57,023 --> 01:03:01,611
to really get this kind of rounded
perspective on what all of this means.

1150
01:03:01,694 --> 01:03:02,945
[woman 14] You ready?

1151
01:03:03,029 --> 01:03:07,700
[kids] ♪ Ooh, see you at the finish line ♪

1152
01:03:09,202 --> 01:03:11,496
[woman 14] Tell me which one
is the prettiest one to you.

1153
01:03:11,579 --> 01:03:13,539
-The prettiest one to me…
-[woman 14] Mm-hmm.

1154
01:03:13,623 --> 01:03:16,501
…I think is,

1155
01:03:17,543 --> 01:03:19,337
um, Brooklyn.

1156
01:03:19,420 --> 01:03:21,380
-Brooklyn's the prettiest?
-Yeah.

1157
01:03:21,464 --> 01:03:25,009
-Why do you think she's the prettiest?
-Because she has Black skin like us.

1158
01:03:25,092 --> 01:03:27,303
[Yeshiva] Oh, she does have Black skin
like all of us.

1159
01:03:27,386 --> 01:03:29,096
That's true. That's very true.

1160
01:03:29,180 --> 01:03:32,266
And she also has
the unique ability to play the guitar.

1161
01:03:32,350 --> 01:03:37,438
Which one do you think is the prettiest?

1162
01:03:38,189 --> 01:03:39,190
This one's the prettiest.

1163
01:03:39,273 --> 01:03:41,192
What makes this Barbie so beautiful?

1164
01:03:41,984 --> 01:03:44,737
-[boy] Because of her dress.
-[Yeshiva] You like her dress?

1165
01:03:44,821 --> 01:03:48,616
Mm-hmm. Is there anything else about her
that makes her beautiful?

1166
01:03:48,699 --> 01:03:50,201
-Her shoes.
-[Yeshiva] Her shoes.

1167
01:03:50,284 --> 01:03:52,537
-Because I love her outfit.
-[Yeshiva] Mm-hmm.

1168
01:03:52,620 --> 01:03:55,289
-And I love her hairstyle.
-[Yeshiva] And you love her hairstyle too.

1169
01:03:55,373 --> 01:03:58,209
-I like her shirt and her purse.
-[Yeshiva] Mm-hmm.

1170
01:03:58,292 --> 01:04:01,337
These beautiful shoes and her hair.

1171
01:04:01,420 --> 01:04:04,507
When they're talking about the Barbies
and talking about their favorite Barbie,

1172
01:04:04,590 --> 01:04:07,051
a lot of them talk about
the dresses that they have on

1173
01:04:07,134 --> 01:04:08,594
or the shoes that they have on,

1174
01:04:08,678 --> 01:04:10,888
and less about their skin tone.

1175
01:04:10,972 --> 01:04:14,350
So I guess I wanna kind of get
you all's take on that.

1176
01:04:14,433 --> 01:04:16,435
And how you… what you think that means,

1177
01:04:16,519 --> 01:04:19,480
the way that they're thinking about race,
for the salience of race.

1178
01:04:19,564 --> 01:04:23,359
Or how… if… if race is on the forefront
of their mind, as kids.

1179
01:04:23,442 --> 01:04:25,611
Well, I work
at a public elementary school,

1180
01:04:25,695 --> 01:04:32,660
um, and when they talk
about anything remotely related to race,

1181
01:04:32,743 --> 01:04:34,203
they don't use the word "race."

1182
01:04:34,287 --> 01:04:36,706
-That's right.
-I don't ever hear that word being…

1183
01:04:36,789 --> 01:04:39,750
I've never really seen it
in the curriculum.

1184
01:04:39,834 --> 01:04:43,087
It's more like "ethnicity," "culture."

1185
01:04:43,170 --> 01:04:45,381
So those… And, like, watching the clips,

1186
01:04:45,464 --> 01:04:48,593
they would say words like "culture,"
"ethnicity," uh, "religion."

1187
01:04:48,676 --> 01:04:50,136
Things that make people unique.

1188
01:04:50,219 --> 01:04:55,141
Have you guys heard
of something called race?

1189
01:04:55,725 --> 01:04:57,184
-No.
-No?

1190
01:04:57,268 --> 01:04:58,811
-No.
-What do you mean by "race"?

1191
01:04:58,895 --> 01:05:00,313
That's such a good question.

1192
01:05:00,396 --> 01:05:06,319
When I think of race, is… Wait.
One of the Barbies that liked to race.

1193
01:05:06,402 --> 01:05:08,446
Oh, like a running race? Yep.

1194
01:05:08,529 --> 01:05:12,491
When you talk to your mom and dad
and your family about race,

1195
01:05:13,242 --> 01:05:14,660
what words do they tell you?

1196
01:05:16,913 --> 01:05:19,957
-Mm-hmm.
-"Do not judge a book by its cover."

1197
01:05:20,041 --> 01:05:23,544
Oh. So what does that mean,
"Do not judge a book by its cover"?

1198
01:05:23,628 --> 01:05:27,298
Like a… Like a Karen
that's making fun of you.

1199
01:05:27,798 --> 01:05:30,134
If I say the word "race…"

1200
01:05:32,553 --> 01:05:34,138
what comes to mind for you?

1201
01:05:34,221 --> 01:05:36,682
-Racism.
-Racism comes to mind?

1202
01:05:36,766 --> 01:05:37,892
What's racism?

1203
01:05:39,143 --> 01:05:45,232
Um, when people judge you for,
um, the color of your skin

1204
01:05:45,316 --> 01:05:47,568
and how you look and your culture.

1205
01:05:47,652 --> 01:05:49,946
They don't necessarily
know the word "race."

1206
01:05:50,029 --> 01:05:52,198
-But "racism" popped out really quickly.
-Right.

1207
01:05:52,281 --> 01:05:56,994
What does your family and your mom and dad
tell you about being a Black person?

1208
01:05:58,287 --> 01:06:03,584
To be brave and always think
you're a beautiful Black queen.

1209
01:06:03,668 --> 01:06:04,627
Ah.

1210
01:06:04,710 --> 01:06:07,838
My mom says
I should be proud of my Black skin,

1211
01:06:07,922 --> 01:06:10,633
and if anyone else
who doesn't have Black skin

1212
01:06:10,716 --> 01:06:12,468
asks, "What's Black girl magic?"

1213
01:06:12,551 --> 01:06:15,513
I'm gonna say, "Oh, it's not something
you would understand."

1214
01:06:15,596 --> 01:06:17,431
They say it's just, like,

1215
01:06:18,599 --> 01:06:22,228
okay to be you
even if you look different in the world.

1216
01:06:22,311 --> 01:06:23,312
Mmm. Mm-hmm.

1217
01:06:23,396 --> 01:06:26,023
'Cause you're still human
like everyone else.

1218
01:06:26,607 --> 01:06:30,444
They say that it's not okay
for cops to be mean to us

1219
01:06:30,528 --> 01:06:35,408
and… and put us on the ground
because we didn't do anything.

1220
01:06:35,491 --> 01:06:38,703
Even though they weren't using
the terminology we understand as adults,

1221
01:06:38,786 --> 01:06:40,705
they were telling us
that they knew about race.

1222
01:06:40,788 --> 01:06:44,834
Someone was like, "Oh, Black Lives Matter.
Black girls… Black girl magic."

1223
01:06:44,917 --> 01:06:47,044
So they're telling you,
"I do know about race."

1224
01:06:47,128 --> 01:06:50,715
But we do need to focus on more
giving them the language to talk about it.

1225
01:06:50,798 --> 01:06:52,800
[Yeshiva] It's the language,
what they're being told

1226
01:06:52,883 --> 01:06:54,635
and what they're hearing in some spaces,

1227
01:06:54,719 --> 01:06:57,096
but it's not necessarily
how they're living

1228
01:06:57,179 --> 01:06:58,973
and how they see other people living.

1229
01:06:59,056 --> 01:07:02,685
Because if everyone's the same
and skin color doesn't matter,

1230
01:07:02,768 --> 01:07:06,313
then why are Black men
being killed in the street by cops?

1231
01:07:06,397 --> 01:07:09,483
What is the role of Barbie
in helping kids understand this?

1232
01:07:09,567 --> 01:07:12,319
Should it be Barbie
or Mattel's responsibility

1233
01:07:12,403 --> 01:07:14,905
to be more intentional
in what they're doing

1234
01:07:14,989 --> 01:07:16,991
to help kids
make these distinctions as well?

1235
01:07:17,074 --> 01:07:18,701
-Yes.
-You think so?

1236
01:07:18,784 --> 01:07:22,329
Because I think
it's society as a whole's responsibility.

1237
01:07:22,413 --> 01:07:25,541
And I think there are
a lot of ways that, um,

1238
01:07:25,624 --> 01:07:27,626
that Mattel can

1239
01:07:28,961 --> 01:07:32,673
make it more obvious about what race

1240
01:07:32,757 --> 01:07:35,676
or what ethnicity
and what culture that a Barbie is.

1241
01:07:35,760 --> 01:07:40,222
Is there, like, a team, like, on Mattel
that, like, focuses on the different…

1242
01:07:40,306 --> 01:07:42,099
What difference means
and what that looks like?

1243
01:07:42,183 --> 01:07:45,144
I think that would be interesting.
I think that is really…

1244
01:07:45,227 --> 01:07:48,481
If we're really thinking about change,
it just can't be one person.

1245
01:07:48,564 --> 01:07:50,900
It has to be a team.
It has to be very intentional.

1246
01:07:50,983 --> 01:07:54,153
-[Yeshiva] Yeah.
-It has to be the right team.

1247
01:07:54,236 --> 01:07:58,908
Which one of these Barbies look like you?

1248
01:07:58,991 --> 01:08:02,036
-You would say this Barbie looks like you?
-[girl] Yes.

1249
01:08:02,119 --> 01:08:05,247
Uh, I think this one
looks a little bit like me

1250
01:08:05,331 --> 01:08:08,501
'cause she has, like, brown hair
and, like, brown eyes.

1251
01:08:08,584 --> 01:08:10,086
Why do these two Barbies look like you?

1252
01:08:10,169 --> 01:08:14,757
Because sometimes, when I like to do
my hair, I tend to put it in the back.

1253
01:08:14,840 --> 01:08:18,469
-She's pretty, and she has locs like me.
-[Yeshiva] Oh, right.

1254
01:08:18,552 --> 01:08:20,179
Anything else that makes her
like your mom?

1255
01:08:20,262 --> 01:08:21,555
-Yeah.
-What else?

1256
01:08:21,639 --> 01:08:24,809
She wears wigs. It looks like
she's actually wearing a wig.

1257
01:08:24,892 --> 01:08:25,726
[Yeshiva] Ah.

1258
01:08:25,810 --> 01:08:28,395
None of these Barbies really look like me.

1259
01:08:28,479 --> 01:08:30,314
Me either, actually.

1260
01:08:30,397 --> 01:08:32,233
What is the parents' responsibility?

1261
01:08:32,316 --> 01:08:35,402
What is our responsibility
beyond just giving them the exposure?

1262
01:08:35,486 --> 01:08:39,198
At the end of the day, I say that Barbie
is not gonna do anything

1263
01:08:39,281 --> 01:08:41,283
that you have not done, right?

1264
01:08:42,034 --> 01:08:46,205
Um, and that's on the parent end
as well as Mattel's end.

1265
01:08:46,288 --> 01:08:49,125
So I don't wanna place onto Barbie

1266
01:08:49,208 --> 01:08:54,505
the work that… which we should be doing
as a… as a society

1267
01:08:54,588 --> 01:08:56,549
to dismantle.

1268
01:08:56,632 --> 01:08:58,926
To me, the ultimate end work

1269
01:08:59,009 --> 01:09:03,264
of authentic diversity,
equity, and inclusion

1270
01:09:03,347 --> 01:09:08,269
is to disrupt the violent institutions,
the violent structures,

1271
01:09:08,352 --> 01:09:10,980
the violent dolls, doll-like worlds

1272
01:09:11,063 --> 01:09:15,484
that exist because of
the long legacy of colonialism.

1273
01:09:15,568 --> 01:09:20,406
And until we are doing that work,
then we just playing with ourselves.

1274
01:09:20,489 --> 01:09:22,741
My daughter's five years old, and she's…

1275
01:09:22,825 --> 01:09:27,246
Right now, she's a princess ninja
who wants to, you know, slay cantaloupes.

1276
01:09:27,329 --> 01:09:30,791
She has a good amount of Barbies,
and the thing that I'm proud about

1277
01:09:30,875 --> 01:09:34,128
is that she sees her Barbies
as all the same.

1278
01:09:34,211 --> 01:09:38,424
So, you know,
we got the full diaspora of colors,

1279
01:09:38,507 --> 01:09:41,427
skin tones, hairstyles,
body shapes, you know.

1280
01:09:41,510 --> 01:09:42,928
That's… I'm proud of that.

1281
01:09:43,012 --> 01:09:45,431
And I think that when I see
her play with her friends,

1282
01:09:45,514 --> 01:09:49,935
you really start to see the fact
that kids gravitate to the play,

1283
01:09:50,019 --> 01:09:52,229
not to what
they're playing with specifically.

1284
01:09:52,313 --> 01:09:56,734
I would bet that if you asked…
If you grabbed 30 kids right now,

1285
01:09:56,817 --> 01:09:58,819
and they said,
"What does Barbie look like?"

1286
01:09:58,903 --> 01:10:00,696
you might get 26 different answers.

1287
01:10:00,779 --> 01:10:04,074
Which one would you say
is the real Barbie?

1288
01:10:05,659 --> 01:10:07,161
This one's the real Barbie?

1289
01:10:08,954 --> 01:10:09,914
This one.

1290
01:10:09,997 --> 01:10:11,665
What makes this one the real Barbie?

1291
01:10:11,749 --> 01:10:13,083
Because of her skin.

1292
01:10:13,167 --> 01:10:16,295
-Because her hair is blonde.
-[Yeshiva] Because her hair is blonde?

1293
01:10:16,378 --> 01:10:20,299
That one's the real Barbie,
and then that one, they made after

1294
01:10:20,382 --> 01:10:23,552
so the Barbies
can look like some Black girls,

1295
01:10:23,636 --> 01:10:26,347
and they don't have to play
with white Barbies all the time.

1296
01:10:26,430 --> 01:10:27,723
I do a lot of research,

1297
01:10:27,806 --> 01:10:30,142
and I watch a lot of toy shows
and how they make it,

1298
01:10:30,226 --> 01:10:32,770
and, like, that was the first Barbie
to ever come out.

1299
01:10:32,853 --> 01:10:35,940
When you go to stores,
you see that they're…

1300
01:10:36,023 --> 01:10:38,525
-They're, like, the first Barbies you see.
-[Yeshiva] Mmm.

1301
01:10:38,609 --> 01:10:40,194
And on commercials too.

1302
01:10:40,277 --> 01:10:43,322
"Who is the Barbie?" essentially,
was one of the questions,

1303
01:10:43,405 --> 01:10:47,326
and they always pulled up
Miss Malibu, right?

1304
01:10:47,409 --> 01:10:51,163
And what that suggested to me is

1305
01:10:51,247 --> 01:10:53,874
Malibu is centered,

1306
01:10:53,958 --> 01:10:56,460
and everybody plays out
in proximity to her,

1307
01:10:56,543 --> 01:10:58,629
and that is the standard of the world.

1308
01:10:58,712 --> 01:11:01,173
Classic Barbie,
Malibu Barbie, regular Barbie.

1309
01:11:01,257 --> 01:11:03,926
That ideal is the message
that's presented to them

1310
01:11:04,009 --> 01:11:08,264
as what's normal, what's ideal,
what they should be striving for.

1311
01:11:08,347 --> 01:11:11,558
And they're, uh, able to understand
that… that Black Barbie,

1312
01:11:11,642 --> 01:11:14,812
that Latina Barbie, that Asian Barbie,
those came later.

1313
01:11:14,895 --> 01:11:17,606
Those are extra.
Those are so that we can see ourselves.

1314
01:11:17,690 --> 01:11:19,525
The societal structure
of power and privilege

1315
01:11:19,608 --> 01:11:23,737
where Black people are at the bottom
is clearly articulated to kids,

1316
01:11:23,821 --> 01:11:27,116
even if they can't use
that language to describe it,

1317
01:11:27,199 --> 01:11:29,743
'cause they can see
how this hierarchy exists

1318
01:11:29,827 --> 01:11:31,412
even in the toys they play with.

1319
01:11:31,495 --> 01:11:33,539
[girl] So if I had to choose,

1320
01:11:33,622 --> 01:11:36,959
I think it would be
the regular one, Barbie,

1321
01:11:37,042 --> 01:11:39,753
because real Barbie has her own show.

1322
01:11:39,837 --> 01:11:42,631
I think that one's the original Barbie

1323
01:11:42,715 --> 01:11:48,012
because when I was over there waiting,
I was watching the show,

1324
01:11:48,095 --> 01:11:51,557
and that's the first person
that popped up.

1325
01:11:53,392 --> 01:11:55,811
[woman 15] So my daughter,
when she watches the TV shows,

1326
01:11:55,894 --> 01:11:57,688
Black Barbie is not the main character.

1327
01:11:57,771 --> 01:12:00,733
We don't learn about Black Barbie's…
Or any of the Black characters really.

1328
01:12:00,816 --> 01:12:04,403
We don't learn about their families.
Um, really anything about them.

1329
01:12:04,486 --> 01:12:05,863
They're usually the sidekick.

1330
01:12:05,946 --> 01:12:09,450
It's almost like a present-day version

1331
01:12:09,533 --> 01:12:13,912
of the exclusion that was happening back
when there wasn't a Black Barbie doll.

1332
01:12:13,996 --> 01:12:15,956
-Have you seen any of Barbie's movies?
-Yes.

1333
01:12:16,040 --> 01:12:17,291
-I have.
-You have?

1334
01:12:17,374 --> 01:12:18,751
Which movie have you seen?

1335
01:12:18,834 --> 01:12:21,211
I've seen the spy one,

1336
01:12:21,295 --> 01:12:22,379
the space one,

1337
01:12:22,463 --> 01:12:23,881
the regular one.

1338
01:12:24,506 --> 01:12:27,509
I used to watch
her old Barbie Dreamhouse videos.

1339
01:12:27,593 --> 01:12:28,427
[Yeshiva] You did?

1340
01:12:28,510 --> 01:12:32,139
And, yeah, we watched,
like, a Barbie movie.

1341
01:12:32,222 --> 01:12:35,309
It was, like, a mermaid Barbie,
and it looked just like that.

1342
01:12:36,185 --> 01:12:38,604
I am Nachelle Jackson,

1343
01:12:38,687 --> 01:12:40,773
and this is my daughter, Kayden.

1344
01:12:42,941 --> 01:12:45,194
Hi. I'm 14.

1345
01:12:46,070 --> 01:12:47,905
And I was forced to play with dolls.

1346
01:12:48,447 --> 01:12:50,616
-You weren't forced to play with dolls.
-[laughter]

1347
01:12:50,699 --> 01:12:52,284
Um, and so I can remember a time

1348
01:12:52,368 --> 01:12:58,665
when we were several volumes in
to varying Barbie movies,

1349
01:12:58,749 --> 01:13:02,753
um, and we went to Target
to go find a new Barbie doll.

1350
01:13:02,836 --> 01:13:06,924
I remember being on that aisle
and saying, "Okay, here's a Barbie."

1351
01:13:07,424 --> 01:13:09,927
And I'm like,
"Okay, this is Barbie, and she's Black."

1352
01:13:10,427 --> 01:13:14,390
Um, and I remember
her being very adamant and saying,

1353
01:13:14,473 --> 01:13:17,309
"This is not Barbie
because Barbie's not Black."

1354
01:13:17,393 --> 01:13:18,560
"Barbie's white."

1355
01:13:18,644 --> 01:13:22,439
I think they need to include more races
to their shows.

1356
01:13:22,523 --> 01:13:25,943
'Cause they usually include just one race
as the main character.

1357
01:13:26,026 --> 01:13:28,821
The show didn't come out till I was older,

1358
01:13:28,904 --> 01:13:31,448
so when I hit, like, ten. Nine, ten.

1359
01:13:32,241 --> 01:13:34,993
Um, I liked it better
because it had a Black character in it.

1360
01:13:35,077 --> 01:13:38,122
That's probably why
I never saw Barbie as Black.

1361
01:13:38,205 --> 01:13:42,000
Because she was always… Because
the Black person was always the friend.

1362
01:13:42,501 --> 01:13:45,254
Like Nikki or Christie
or something like that.

1363
01:13:45,337 --> 01:13:48,924
My name is Aydrea Walden,
and I am a writer living in Los Angeles.

1364
01:13:49,007 --> 01:13:51,093
So I was a little familiar
with the Barbie Vlog

1365
01:13:51,176 --> 01:13:52,845
before I got involved with it.

1366
01:13:52,928 --> 01:13:58,475
There had been a couple of pieces
that just broke through into my radar.

1367
01:13:58,559 --> 01:14:00,769
I was familiar with Mattel.

1368
01:14:00,853 --> 01:14:03,355
I had done some work for Mattel
on other shows,

1369
01:14:03,439 --> 01:14:06,150
and so I had
a great relationship with them

1370
01:14:06,233 --> 01:14:10,070
when they approached me
about wanting to do something

1371
01:14:10,154 --> 01:14:14,408
to talk about the issues
that were going on in 2020.

1372
01:14:14,992 --> 01:14:17,327
-Hey, everybody.
-Hey, everyone.

1373
01:14:17,411 --> 01:14:21,123
So there is a huge movement going on.

1374
01:14:21,206 --> 01:14:23,917
People, millions of people,
across the world

1375
01:14:24,001 --> 01:14:26,879
are standing up to fight against racism,

1376
01:14:26,962 --> 01:14:30,924
and they're doing this because too often,
and for such a long time,

1377
01:14:31,008 --> 01:14:35,304
people have been treated unfairly
and, in some cases, even hurt by others

1378
01:14:35,387 --> 01:14:37,014
because of the color of their skin.

1379
01:14:37,097 --> 01:14:40,184
They basically said,
"We wanna do this as a Barbie Vlog,

1380
01:14:40,267 --> 01:14:42,895
and if you could say something,
what would your message be?"

1381
01:14:42,978 --> 01:14:44,980
People might think
that my life looks fine,

1382
01:14:45,063 --> 01:14:48,400
but the truth is
I and so many other Black people

1383
01:14:48,484 --> 01:14:51,361
have to deal with racism all the time.

1384
01:14:51,445 --> 01:14:55,240
I've always found it fascinating
that two people can be in the same space

1385
01:14:55,324 --> 01:14:57,784
and have very different experiences
based on who they are.

1386
01:14:57,868 --> 01:14:59,369
That was what I wanted to talk about.

1387
01:14:59,453 --> 01:15:02,831
Barbie and I had a sticker-selling contest
on the beach last month.

1388
01:15:02,915 --> 01:15:05,959
We split up and went different directions
to see who could sell the most.

1389
01:15:06,043 --> 01:15:10,297
Well, while I was on the boardwalk,
beach security stopped me three times.

1390
01:15:10,380 --> 01:15:11,215
What?

1391
01:15:11,298 --> 01:15:15,219
They asked me all these questions
over and over, and they called my mom.

1392
01:15:15,302 --> 01:15:18,347
I never told you, but that's why
I sold a few stickers that day.

1393
01:15:18,847 --> 01:15:21,183
The security officers
thought I was doing something bad

1394
01:15:21,266 --> 01:15:23,602
even though I was doing
exactly what you were doing.

1395
01:15:23,685 --> 01:15:25,938
We took a few stories
of things that had happened to me,

1396
01:15:26,021 --> 01:15:28,190
true stories that had happened to me
in my life,

1397
01:15:28,273 --> 01:15:30,817
and made them age appropriate
for the audience.

1398
01:15:30,901 --> 01:15:35,239
And I do do that a lot in my work,
of taking bigger issues, adult issues,

1399
01:15:35,322 --> 01:15:38,408
and making them appropriate
for young audiences.

1400
01:15:38,492 --> 01:15:42,162
Usually, when I talk about these things,
people make excuses.

1401
01:15:42,246 --> 01:15:44,957
They say things like, "Oh, well,
maybe you should have had a permit

1402
01:15:45,040 --> 01:15:46,250
for selling on the beach."

1403
01:15:46,333 --> 01:15:47,918
But those are just excuses.

1404
01:15:48,001 --> 01:15:50,212
People did these things to me
because I was Black,

1405
01:15:50,295 --> 01:15:52,297
and they made
the wrong assumptions about me.

1406
01:15:52,381 --> 01:15:56,009
And they don't make those assumptions
about white people like me.

1407
01:15:56,093 --> 01:15:59,263
The setup was simple. It was
just two friends sharing experiences.

1408
01:15:59,346 --> 01:16:02,516
So I also thought it was nice
that we were modeling

1409
01:16:02,599 --> 01:16:04,434
two people talking about something

1410
01:16:04,518 --> 01:16:06,478
that might be uncomfortable
for both of them.

1411
01:16:06,562 --> 01:16:09,481
These stories are uncomfortable
to talk about and also to hear.

1412
01:16:09,565 --> 01:16:12,025
And I think
the team did a great job with it.

1413
01:16:12,109 --> 01:16:14,027
I'm really happy
with how the piece came out.

1414
01:16:14,778 --> 01:16:16,738
What's that…
what's that Dave Chappelle joke?

1415
01:16:16,822 --> 01:16:19,116
You know, "What does Ja Rule think?"

1416
01:16:19,199 --> 01:16:21,660
[laughs] You know?

1417
01:16:21,743 --> 01:16:23,829
[laughs]

1418
01:16:23,912 --> 01:16:27,916
I don't think I'mma go and be like,
"What does Barbie think about racism?"

1419
01:16:28,000 --> 01:16:29,751
Maybe let's… [laughs]

1420
01:16:29,835 --> 01:16:31,211
Let's… let's tee up Barbie.

1421
01:16:33,338 --> 01:16:34,214
Oh.

1422
01:16:35,424 --> 01:16:36,341
Okay.

1423
01:16:37,050 --> 01:16:37,926
Wow.

1424
01:16:38,468 --> 01:16:41,221
Little white Barbie is an ally. I love it.

1425
01:16:41,305 --> 01:16:42,514
I love it if it works.

1426
01:16:42,598 --> 01:16:47,853
If, you know, little white girls
that, um, look up to Barbie

1427
01:16:48,395 --> 01:16:50,022
and wanna be just like her,

1428
01:16:50,105 --> 01:16:52,232
if they pay attention to that,

1429
01:16:52,316 --> 01:16:57,404
and they start pointing out racism to…
you know, when it's happening

1430
01:16:57,487 --> 01:17:00,490
and standing up for,
you know, their Black friends

1431
01:17:00,574 --> 01:17:04,286
or their, you know, Latino friends
or anyone who might be different.

1432
01:17:04,369 --> 01:17:08,915
It might help in seeing it for them
because a lot of times they don't see it.

1433
01:17:08,999 --> 01:17:12,377
I think the one thing
that that video was missing

1434
01:17:12,461 --> 01:17:17,841
was there was no actual actionable advice.

1435
01:17:17,924 --> 01:17:20,177
Just being an… an… an open ear

1436
01:17:20,260 --> 01:17:25,724
doesn't really, like, uh, arm you
with the tools to deal with what happens

1437
01:17:25,807 --> 01:17:28,810
when your friends
are being teased at a sleepover.

1438
01:17:29,311 --> 01:17:32,564
I'm a teeny, tiny bit sad

1439
01:17:32,648 --> 01:17:36,652
that kids can't just be kids.

1440
01:17:37,569 --> 01:17:42,616
Doesn't mean it's not necessary because…
because reality hits, and reality is real,

1441
01:17:42,699 --> 01:17:44,910
and it happens way, way, way too young.

1442
01:17:44,993 --> 01:17:49,915
And if this bit of reality meeting fantasy

1443
01:17:49,998 --> 01:17:53,543
can help build our world
into being more kind

1444
01:17:53,627 --> 01:17:58,423
and less, um,
innocuous to racism and discrimination,

1445
01:17:58,507 --> 01:18:00,967
then that is really beautiful,
and it's worth it.

1446
01:18:01,051 --> 01:18:04,471
I think it's amazing that they touched on
an important social issue.

1447
01:18:04,554 --> 01:18:08,809
I think, for, you know, kids that maybe
don't have those experiences,

1448
01:18:09,351 --> 01:18:10,894
to learn from those videos,

1449
01:18:10,977 --> 01:18:13,980
and maybe they weren't having those
conversations at home, that's amazing.

1450
01:18:14,064 --> 01:18:15,899
But my first thought was,

1451
01:18:15,982 --> 01:18:18,985
"But when has this character
even talked this much on the show?"

1452
01:18:19,069 --> 01:18:20,028
She doesn't.

1453
01:18:20,112 --> 01:18:22,197
You know, she might say a word
here and there,

1454
01:18:22,280 --> 01:18:24,116
but she's the sidekick all day long.

1455
01:18:24,199 --> 01:18:28,328
In order to have progress, you have
to have… you have to take steps, right?

1456
01:18:28,412 --> 01:18:31,915
Progress is not, like, you know…
is not done in a leap.

1457
01:18:31,998 --> 01:18:34,167
The… the representation has increased.

1458
01:18:34,251 --> 01:18:36,378
Last year's movie, Big City Big Dreams,

1459
01:18:36,461 --> 01:18:39,131
we have Barbie Roberts, Malibu.

1460
01:18:39,214 --> 01:18:42,050
She finally meets
another Barbie Roberts from Brooklyn.

1461
01:18:42,134 --> 01:18:45,679
-You're from Brooklyn, as in New York?
-Is there any other?

1462
01:18:45,762 --> 01:18:47,973
There is one I saw
where it was kinda cute.

1463
01:18:48,056 --> 01:18:51,143
It was the white Barbie
and then the Black Barbie.

1464
01:18:51,226 --> 01:18:52,936
They had the same dorm room.

1465
01:18:53,019 --> 01:18:54,980
Um, I think this is my room.

1466
01:18:55,063 --> 01:18:58,442
Um, it has my name on it. I'm Barbie.

1467
01:18:58,525 --> 01:19:00,819
But I'm Barbie.

1468
01:19:01,403 --> 01:19:03,655
-What's your last name?
-Roberts.

1469
01:19:04,656 --> 01:19:06,575
[both] We have the same name?

1470
01:19:06,658 --> 01:19:08,785
But it was really cool
how they were, like, showing,

1471
01:19:08,869 --> 01:19:11,580
"We have our melanated Barbie.
We also have the white Barbie."

1472
01:19:11,663 --> 01:19:13,165
But they're the same doll,

1473
01:19:13,248 --> 01:19:15,459
but it's a different variation
'cause of the skin tone.

1474
01:19:15,542 --> 01:19:18,545
So the Barbie multiverse is now opened up.

1475
01:19:18,628 --> 01:19:22,257
[Antwann] The thought is that,
"Hey, this is progressive"

1476
01:19:22,340 --> 01:19:24,551
because of the fact

1477
01:19:24,634 --> 01:19:27,888
that Brooklyn has made it
to the screen, right?

1478
01:19:27,971 --> 01:19:30,390
Um, it doesn't matter how she shows up.

1479
01:19:30,474 --> 01:19:33,435
She's in the space,
and therefore it is progressive.

1480
01:19:33,518 --> 01:19:36,563
I think it's interesting
that we understand

1481
01:19:36,646 --> 01:19:38,774
Brooklyn to be in competition

1482
01:19:38,857 --> 01:19:42,903
with someone who's wholly inadequate
to be on the stage with her, right?

1483
01:19:42,986 --> 01:19:45,822
And so this is the experience
that many Black women

1484
01:19:45,906 --> 01:19:48,992
experience day in and day out, right?

1485
01:19:49,075 --> 01:19:52,078
Um, it's seen as progressive
that we've hired you.

1486
01:19:52,162 --> 01:19:52,996
[pigeon coos]

1487
01:19:53,079 --> 01:19:54,080
[gasps]

1488
01:19:54,164 --> 01:19:55,749
[yelps]

1489
01:19:56,374 --> 01:19:58,877
[Antwann] One can be inadequate…

1490
01:19:58,960 --> 01:19:59,795
Whoa!

1491
01:19:59,878 --> 01:20:02,339
…in their whiteness

1492
01:20:02,422 --> 01:20:05,050
and is seen as equal to…

1493
01:20:05,133 --> 01:20:06,843
Runaway suitcase.

1494
01:20:06,927 --> 01:20:10,680
…in this particular case,
an over-credentialed Black woman.

1495
01:20:11,181 --> 01:20:14,267
And once again, ballet saves the day.

1496
01:20:14,351 --> 01:20:16,853
They are placed
on the same stage of competition,

1497
01:20:16,937 --> 01:20:21,858
and this is seen as progressive
when that is not the case.

1498
01:20:21,942 --> 01:20:26,279
♪ I'll see you at the finish line ♪

1499
01:20:26,363 --> 01:20:30,575
[Antwann] Even though they tied,
I still see that as "in service of."

1500
01:20:31,117 --> 01:20:34,162
How come Mattel could not lean in and say,

1501
01:20:34,246 --> 01:20:38,834
"All right, Brooklyn has the credentials.
She has a talent. She's taking this"?

1502
01:20:39,543 --> 01:20:41,920
[Lagueria] I think
for some of the children,

1503
01:20:42,003 --> 01:20:46,007
the media felt like
it was still skewing not as inclusive.

1504
01:20:46,091 --> 01:20:47,926
There was just talk in terms of

1505
01:20:48,677 --> 01:20:53,390
"What would it take
for, um, one of the Black characters,

1506
01:20:53,473 --> 01:20:56,434
one of the Latina characters,
one of the Asian characters,

1507
01:20:56,518 --> 01:20:58,854
to be the hero of their own story?"

1508
01:20:58,937 --> 01:21:01,648
Yeah, I think we're working there.
So we are working there.

1509
01:21:01,731 --> 01:21:06,027
With the expansion of the Barbie Roberts…
Excuse me, Barbie Roberts Brooklyn.

1510
01:21:06,111 --> 01:21:08,113
Expanding that out is a big step.

1511
01:21:08,196 --> 01:21:10,198
With the success of the movie last year,

1512
01:21:10,282 --> 01:21:13,743
Brooklyn is getting
a line bespoke for herself.

1513
01:21:13,827 --> 01:21:15,829
A whole universe for herself.

1514
01:21:15,912 --> 01:21:18,623
Where… where she's still friends
with Barbie Malibu,

1515
01:21:18,707 --> 01:21:21,668
but we're building a world
around Brooklyn.

1516
01:21:21,751 --> 01:21:26,548
The Brooklyn line is gonna have a TV…
like a Netflix series,

1517
01:21:26,631 --> 01:21:28,300
and gonna have dolls,

1518
01:21:28,383 --> 01:21:31,595
and probably interact even more
on the… on the vlogs and whatnot.

1519
01:21:31,678 --> 01:21:32,971
So it's expanding.

1520
01:21:33,054 --> 01:21:37,267
Parents today still talk about wanting
a Black Barbie or a Barbie of color

1521
01:21:37,350 --> 01:21:39,728
to be, uh, a main character,

1522
01:21:39,811 --> 01:21:43,106
and so I feel like the legacy
is around empower… empowerment.

1523
01:21:43,189 --> 01:21:44,608
It's around cultural impact.

1524
01:21:44,691 --> 01:21:48,612
Increased inclusivity
and… and representation is happening.

1525
01:21:48,695 --> 01:21:52,282
Uh, I think the number-one thing
to think about, again, is… is

1526
01:21:54,117 --> 01:21:55,785
pace matters,

1527
01:21:55,869 --> 01:22:00,916
and sustained pace that is achievable
and shows market impact

1528
01:22:00,999 --> 01:22:02,626
is better than a moment in time.

1529
01:22:02,709 --> 01:22:03,835
If it doesn't…

1530
01:22:03,919 --> 01:22:08,465
If… if we don't see the… the progress
at the speed with which I wanna see it

1531
01:22:08,548 --> 01:22:11,593
or you may wanna see it
or whomever wants to see it,

1532
01:22:12,177 --> 01:22:17,515
that's okay because my expectation
is… is to continue to push that.

1533
01:22:17,599 --> 01:22:20,477
And my realization
is that if it moves a little bit,

1534
01:22:20,560 --> 01:22:22,395
I'm doing the job. We're doing the job.

1535
01:22:22,479 --> 01:22:24,397
I don't think she will be as successful.

1536
01:22:24,481 --> 01:22:25,315
Why?

1537
01:22:25,815 --> 01:22:28,401
Because we live in a…

1538
01:22:29,277 --> 01:22:31,237
-I don't wanna say it.
-Say it.

1539
01:22:31,321 --> 01:22:32,364
[Kayden chuckles]

1540
01:22:32,447 --> 01:22:36,785
Um, we live in
a predominantly white world, I guess,

1541
01:22:36,868 --> 01:22:41,164
and most successful people
that you think of is

1542
01:22:42,290 --> 01:22:43,959
white, right?

1543
01:22:44,042 --> 01:22:49,547
And I think, since the demand is so high
with the white people,

1544
01:22:49,631 --> 01:22:54,719
I don't think the Black Barbie
will be a standalone character

1545
01:22:54,803 --> 01:22:57,847
without having at least
some type of white character in it.

1546
01:22:58,598 --> 01:23:01,017
-Huh. So she couldn't stand alone.
-[Kayden] Mm-mm.

1547
01:23:01,101 --> 01:23:04,270
I would want her to, but I don't think
it will be as successful.

1548
01:23:04,938 --> 01:23:08,274
Uh, I'm disappointed to hear that, um,

1549
01:23:09,609 --> 01:23:13,822
she didn't… she doesn't think
that it could be successful on its own

1550
01:23:14,322 --> 01:23:16,825
simply because it's a person of color.

1551
01:23:19,995 --> 01:23:22,789
[Lagueria] So that's my sister
and my niece.

1552
01:23:23,832 --> 01:23:26,209
I was surprised to hear
that's how she felt.

1553
01:23:27,002 --> 01:23:29,587
Are we really doing the job if it's 2024

1554
01:23:29,671 --> 01:23:33,341
and our kids are still thinking
that the world is predominantly white?

1555
01:23:34,217 --> 01:23:37,303
We've come such a long way
from Chapter One

1556
01:23:37,387 --> 01:23:39,848
and the lack of Black dolls.

1557
01:23:40,432 --> 01:23:41,307
Right?

1558
01:23:47,522 --> 01:23:51,234
Tell me about what's going on
in this book.

1559
01:23:52,610 --> 01:23:54,612
[Beulah] 70th Anniversary Book.

1560
01:23:55,280 --> 01:23:58,033
They had a quote that I had quoted.

1561
01:23:59,367 --> 01:24:02,203
"I'm blessed
because of 44 years at Mattel."

1562
01:24:02,287 --> 01:24:04,664
"I was most happy." Yeah, that was true.

1563
01:24:05,582 --> 01:24:08,209
I know Kitty's in here somewhere.
What is she saying?

1564
01:24:08,293 --> 01:24:13,256
"Kitty Black Perkins, creator of the first
Black Barbie and Holiday Barbie line."

1565
01:24:13,339 --> 01:24:17,427
"The best part of my job
is that every little girl loves me

1566
01:24:17,510 --> 01:24:20,388
once she finds out
what I do for a living."

1567
01:24:20,472 --> 01:24:22,057
[Lagueria] And here it is.

1568
01:24:23,892 --> 01:24:25,060
Let's see.

1569
01:24:25,143 --> 01:24:30,440
In 1980, as we know,
Black Barbie was born.

1570
01:24:30,523 --> 01:24:32,609
-[Beulah] Eighty-two.
-[Lagueria] In 1980.

1571
01:24:32,692 --> 01:24:35,779
-But let's see. Is Black Barbie here?
-[Beulah] No, it doesn't say that.

1572
01:24:35,862 --> 01:24:37,906
They're pushing boundaries.

1573
01:24:37,989 --> 01:24:40,742
[Lagueria] They're pushing boundaries,
but no mention of Black Barbie?

1574
01:24:40,825 --> 01:24:42,035
[Beulah] I know.

1575
01:24:42,660 --> 01:24:43,661
[Lagueria] I'm really sad

1576
01:24:43,745 --> 01:24:47,248
that Black Barbie didn't make
the… the "Pushing the Boundaries" list.

1577
01:24:47,332 --> 01:24:49,167
-[Beulah] No, she didn't.
-[Lagueria] No.

1578
01:24:49,667 --> 01:24:51,169
But Holiday Barbie did.

1579
01:24:53,963 --> 01:24:55,715
[Lagueria] While making this film,

1580
01:24:55,799 --> 01:24:58,676
I often thought of little Lagueria,

1581
01:24:58,760 --> 01:25:02,347
a shy, soft-spoken Black girl from Texas,

1582
01:25:02,430 --> 01:25:06,017
and what it would have meant to have seen
something like this documentary.

1583
01:25:06,851 --> 01:25:10,605
Seeing it and wanting to be it
because, like her aunt,

1584
01:25:10,688 --> 01:25:12,732
she wanted to ask the hard questions

1585
01:25:12,816 --> 01:25:15,902
and lay the groundwork
for future generations.

1586
01:25:16,486 --> 01:25:21,116
And, like Shonda, she felt the burden
of being the first, but did it anyway.

1587
01:25:21,199 --> 01:25:25,411
And, like Misty, she understood
that it was indeed like a protest

1588
01:25:25,495 --> 01:25:28,373
being in this Black body
saying you're a part of a history

1589
01:25:28,456 --> 01:25:31,084
that doesn't always include you.

1590
01:25:31,167 --> 01:25:34,671
And like Kitty and Stacey, she saw a need.

1591
01:25:34,754 --> 01:25:37,882
She saw a need
to tell Black Barbie's story.

1592
01:25:37,966 --> 01:25:39,592
To put her on the timeline.

1593
01:25:39,676 --> 01:25:42,804
Because Black Barbie is important,

1594
01:25:42,887 --> 01:25:44,764
and her story matters.

1595
01:25:46,266 --> 01:25:47,809
As you can see,

1596
01:25:47,892 --> 01:25:52,105
I found myself intentionally inspired
while making this film,

1597
01:25:52,188 --> 01:25:55,024
and I wondered how it would inspire you.

1598
01:25:56,067 --> 01:25:58,695
I think that's why films like these
are so important.

1599
01:25:58,778 --> 01:26:00,780
Um, preserving that legacy, if you will.

1600
01:26:01,573 --> 01:26:05,451
I absolutely think
Black Barbie paved the way, 100%.

1601
01:26:06,035 --> 01:26:10,957
[Kitty] I want everybody to know
that Black Barbie reflects who I am.

1602
01:26:11,040 --> 01:26:16,629
My personality and all of that
went into this particular doll.

1603
01:26:17,172 --> 01:26:21,342
I feel that I've been able
to give some kind of joy

1604
01:26:22,177 --> 01:26:26,222
to every little girl who played
with any of the dolls that I've designed,

1605
01:26:26,306 --> 01:26:29,100
and I think I've used my creativity,

1606
01:26:29,184 --> 01:26:30,685
which is God-given,

1607
01:26:30,768 --> 01:26:32,937
in a positive way.

1608
01:26:33,021 --> 01:26:39,027
I'm so grateful for the growth
and the future of where Barbie is headed.

1609
01:26:39,110 --> 01:26:43,114
However, I also know that it wouldn't be
headed toward the future that it is

1610
01:26:43,198 --> 01:26:44,782
if it weren't for Black Barbie.

1611
01:26:44,866 --> 01:26:50,288
And, again, so proud of Black women

1612
01:26:50,371 --> 01:26:55,043
for calling out things
that are important to us

1613
01:26:55,126 --> 01:26:58,379
in spaces where
we're so oftentimes silenced.

1614
01:26:58,463 --> 01:27:00,965
Like, that must have
been incredibly difficult.

1615
01:27:01,549 --> 01:27:03,843
And so I'm excited,

1616
01:27:03,927 --> 01:27:07,096
but I first have to pay homage
to how it even came to be.

1617
01:27:07,764 --> 01:27:11,976
I'm just so grateful for the legacy
that has been created from it.

1618
01:27:12,060 --> 01:27:14,062
-♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪
-♪ Hey! ♪

1619
01:27:15,855 --> 01:27:17,732
-♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪
-♪ Hey! ♪

1620
01:27:18,691 --> 01:27:22,028
[Lagueria] Okay,
so I don't hate dolls anymore.

1621
01:27:22,946 --> 01:27:28,117
I'm actually grateful to know their story
because it has given me so much life

1622
01:27:28,201 --> 01:27:32,705
to highlight how Black women rise up
and support each other.

1623
01:27:32,789 --> 01:27:34,666
These three women,

1624
01:27:34,749 --> 01:27:39,337
Kitty, Stacey,
and my aunt, Beulah Mae Mitchell,

1625
01:27:39,420 --> 01:27:41,089
teamed up together

1626
01:27:41,172 --> 01:27:44,926
because when they didn't see
what they wanted, they made it.

1627
01:27:45,510 --> 01:27:47,845
Hey, that's just what we do.

1628
01:27:48,846 --> 01:27:52,600
They were first
but made sure they wouldn't be the last

1629
01:27:52,684 --> 01:27:55,228
by passing the torch to me now.

1630
01:27:55,812 --> 01:27:58,606
So, like them, I saw a need,

1631
01:27:58,690 --> 01:28:01,109
assembled an amazing team,

1632
01:28:01,192 --> 01:28:03,987
and finally made Black Barbie

1633
01:28:04,070 --> 01:28:07,573
the hero of her own story.

1634
01:28:08,783 --> 01:28:11,369
♪ I think they mad 'cause we fab ♪

1635
01:28:11,452 --> 01:28:13,079
♪ Oh, what a drag ♪

1636
01:28:13,162 --> 01:28:14,998
♪ Don't be so drab ♪

1637
01:28:15,081 --> 01:28:18,251
♪ Most imitated
But they put us in a bag ♪

1638
01:28:18,751 --> 01:28:21,921
♪ I'm 'bout to put
The melanated on the map ♪

1639
01:28:22,005 --> 01:28:23,047
♪ You mad, huh ♪

1640
01:28:23,589 --> 01:28:25,133
♪ We Black out tonight ♪

1641
01:28:25,216 --> 01:28:27,051
♪ We're the original gangstas ♪

1642
01:28:27,135 --> 01:28:28,845
♪ These are the facts of life ♪

1643
01:28:28,928 --> 01:28:30,805
♪ And we give you life
So you should thank us ♪

1644
01:28:30,888 --> 01:28:32,807
♪ You should be acting right ♪

1645
01:28:32,890 --> 01:28:34,559
♪ But you mad uptight ♪

1646
01:28:34,642 --> 01:28:36,019
♪ Tryna strategize ♪

1647
01:28:36,102 --> 01:28:38,563
♪ But when we Black out
Can't stop the fire ♪

1648
01:28:40,148 --> 01:28:43,401
♪ Can't nobody put it out
Can't nobody put it out ♪

1649
01:28:43,484 --> 01:28:45,528
♪ When we Black out
Can't stop the fire ♪

1650
01:28:47,405 --> 01:28:50,408
♪ Can't nobody put it out
Can't nobody put it out ♪

1651
01:28:51,075 --> 01:28:53,411
-♪ Black out, let's put it down ♪
-♪ Na, na, na, na ♪

1652
01:28:53,494 --> 01:28:55,288
-♪ Hey! ♪
-♪ Na, na, na, na, na ♪

1653
01:28:55,788 --> 01:28:59,542
♪ Black on both sides
That's how I like it ♪

1654
01:28:59,625 --> 01:29:02,462
♪ Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na ♪

1655
01:29:03,087 --> 01:29:06,632
♪ Black on both sides
That's how I like it ♪

1656
01:29:06,716 --> 01:29:10,261
♪ Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na ♪

1657
01:29:10,345 --> 01:29:13,931
♪ Black on both sides
That's how I like it ♪

1658
01:29:14,015 --> 01:29:16,934
♪ Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na… ♪

1659
01:29:17,018 --> 01:29:21,564
I am so pleased to come into a studio
and so… see such diversity.

1660
01:29:22,398 --> 01:29:28,654
Uh, years ago, when I first, you know,
was early in politics, etc.,

1661
01:29:28,738 --> 01:29:31,574
uh, I didn't see this kind of diversity.

1662
01:29:31,657 --> 01:29:35,870
I didn't see makeup artists
that knew what color to put on your face.

1663
01:29:36,454 --> 01:29:39,123
I didn't see people behind the camera,

1664
01:29:39,207 --> 01:29:42,293
interviews being done
about people of color.

1665
01:29:42,377 --> 01:29:45,797
Things have changed quite a bit
in the entertainment industry.

1666
01:29:45,880 --> 01:29:49,175
I love seeing you all.
I love the diversity here.

1667
01:29:49,258 --> 01:29:50,802
Thank you for inviting me.

1668
01:29:50,885 --> 01:29:52,303
-♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪
-♪ Hey! ♪

1669
01:29:54,180 --> 01:29:56,015
-♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪
-♪ Hey! ♪

1670
01:29:57,850 --> 01:29:59,685
-♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪
-♪ Hey! ♪

1671
01:30:01,521 --> 01:30:03,231
-♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪
-♪ Hey! ♪

1672
01:30:06,484 --> 01:30:07,318
♪ Hey! ♪

1673
01:30:11,531 --> 01:30:16,786
I'm thinking that the idea came up
at one point in time, several years ago.

1674
01:30:17,620 --> 01:30:18,538
Where is she?

1675
01:30:18,621 --> 01:30:20,331
[laughter]

1676
01:30:45,356 --> 01:30:46,399
[laughter]

1677
01:30:58,828 --> 01:31:02,081
Well, someday, there will be

1678
01:31:02,665 --> 01:31:04,917
a very mature Barbie.

1679
01:31:05,001 --> 01:31:06,794
[laughter]

1680
01:31:09,005 --> 01:31:11,591
♪ I think they mad 'cause we fab ♪

1681
01:31:11,674 --> 01:31:13,426
♪ Oh, what a drag ♪

1682
01:31:13,509 --> 01:31:15,303
♪ Don't be so drab ♪

1683
01:31:15,386 --> 01:31:18,764
♪ Most imitated
But they put us in a bag ♪

1684
01:31:18,848 --> 01:31:22,143
♪ I'm 'bout to put the melanated
On the map ♪

1685
01:31:22,226 --> 01:31:23,311
♪ You mad, huh ♪

1686
01:31:23,811 --> 01:31:25,438
♪ We Black out tonight ♪

1687
01:31:25,521 --> 01:31:27,398
♪ We're the original gangstas ♪

1688
01:31:27,482 --> 01:31:29,108
♪ These are the facts of life ♪

1689
01:31:29,192 --> 01:31:31,027
♪ And we give you life
So you should thank us ♪

1690
01:31:31,110 --> 01:31:33,029
♪ You should be acting right ♪

1691
01:31:33,112 --> 01:31:34,822
♪ But you mad uptight ♪

1692
01:31:34,906 --> 01:31:36,365
♪ Tryna strategize ♪

1693
01:31:36,449 --> 01:31:38,743
♪ But when we Black out
Can't stop the fire ♪

1694
01:31:39,243 --> 01:31:40,286
♪ Hey ♪

1695
01:31:40,369 --> 01:31:43,664
♪ Can't nobody put it out
Can't nobody put it out ♪

1696
01:31:43,748 --> 01:31:45,791
♪ When we Black out
Can't stop the fire ♪

1697
01:31:46,542 --> 01:31:47,585
♪ Hey! ♪

1698
01:31:47,668 --> 01:31:50,796
♪ Can't nobody put it out
Can't nobody put it out ♪

1699
01:31:51,339 --> 01:31:53,966
-♪ Black out, let's put it down ♪
-♪ Na, na, na, na ♪

1700
01:31:54,050 --> 01:31:55,593
♪ Na, na, na, na, na ♪

1701
01:31:56,093 --> 01:31:59,722
♪ Black on both sides
That's how I like it ♪

1702
01:31:59,805 --> 01:32:02,767
♪ Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na ♪

1703
01:32:03,309 --> 01:32:06,896
♪ Black on both sides
That's how I like it ♪

1704
01:32:06,979 --> 01:32:10,149
♪ Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na ♪

1705
01:32:10,650 --> 01:32:14,195
♪ Black on both sides
That's how I like it ♪

1706
01:32:14,278 --> 01:32:17,406
♪ Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na ♪

1707
01:32:17,949 --> 01:32:21,786
♪ Black on both sides
That's how I like it ♪

1708
01:32:21,869 --> 01:32:23,829
♪ Black on Black
Mixed with Black ♪

1709
01:32:23,913 --> 01:32:25,414
♪ Black on Black on Black on ♪

1710
01:32:25,498 --> 01:32:28,042
♪ We ain't no trend, that's a fact ♪

1711
01:32:28,125 --> 01:32:30,878
♪ We been the wave
Y'all all just ripples in the back ♪

1712
01:32:30,962 --> 01:32:31,963
♪ Black on Black on ♪

1713
01:32:32,046 --> 01:32:34,882
♪ We celebrate
Just call me cocky how we brag ♪

1714
01:32:34,966 --> 01:32:36,259
♪ It's facts though ♪

1715
01:32:36,342 --> 01:32:38,052
♪ I think they curious ♪

1716
01:32:38,135 --> 01:32:39,345
♪ Think they obsessed ♪

1717
01:32:39,971 --> 01:32:43,307
♪ With a girl like me, dipped in honey
Oh God, we blessed ♪

1718
01:32:43,391 --> 01:32:45,393
♪ We got that bomb, huh ♪

1719
01:32:45,476 --> 01:32:47,228
♪ We got that thing, yeah ♪

1720
01:32:47,311 --> 01:32:50,565
♪ When you was born with it
You cannot fake this ♪

1721
01:32:50,648 --> 01:32:54,151
♪ Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na ♪

1722
01:32:54,235 --> 01:32:57,822
♪ Black on both sides
That's how I like it ♪

1723
01:32:57,905 --> 01:33:01,033
♪ Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na ♪

1724
01:33:01,534 --> 01:33:05,121
♪ Black on both sides
That's how I like it ♪

1725
01:33:05,204 --> 01:33:08,291
♪ Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na ♪

1726
01:33:08,833 --> 01:33:12,336
♪ Black on both sides
That's how I like it ♪

1727
01:33:12,420 --> 01:33:15,506
♪ Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na ♪